


Fish Out of Water

by quidditchchick



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, M/M, Mermaids, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-19 23:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 137,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2407361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quidditchchick/pseuds/quidditchchick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa is a young merman who is fascinated by humans despite his father's distaste for them. He decides to swim to the surface to learn about them firsthand. He spots a blue-haired human running on the beach and is stunned by his beauty. After saving said human from drowning in a storm, Nagisa can't get him off of his mind and eventually asks the sea witch to turn him into a human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

* * *

 

 Prologue

               

The mershark glanced over his shoulder to make sure he was not being followed as he swam further and further away from the city. He had never been followed before, nor did he think he ever would be, but it was a nervous habit that he couldn’t seem to shake after having made this swim so many times in the past; and if there was ever a day to have something to be nervous about, it was definitely today.

After the regular 30 minute swim, he reached colder waters and took a deep breath to relax himself as he dove down deeper into the trench below him. The dark and the cold never bothered him before, but today was a different matter. He wasn’t able to get what he needed…what _she_ needed; and without it, he feared he had nothing else to offer for the exchange.

Many might have found it foolish that he still decided to go empty-handed and that it would have been wiser to just stay at home and return another time when he had something to offer; but he had no time today. This was a very last minute thing and it was urgent. He didn’t have what she wanted, but he knew she liked to bargain, so surely he had something else he could offer the sea witch. Anything.

One, two, three, four holes down the side of the trench’s slimy wall, unseen to those who were not looking for them. He reached his hand into the fourth and uttered the incantation. The two eels he had grown to be so familiar with emerged from two of the holes above him and smirked once they saw him.

“Mistress was not expecting you today. She’ll be pleased to see you again so soon.” They chanted in unison.

 _She won’t be once she found out he didn’t have what she wanted today_ , he thought as he felt the two eels wrap themselves around his body in their own amusement before swimming back through the holes, opening the hidden door, and letting him in. He swam through the narrow cave and did not flinch when the odd plant-life growing on the sides grazed him as he passed. The many times he swam this passage had gotten him used to it, so he was not afraid. Unfortunately, he was still afraid of the sea witch herself.

She was an aging octopus; how old exactly, he did not know, but she was quite an ugly one at that. The last to ever mention her age and ugliness had done so to her face and he ended up being strangled by one of her deadly tentacles as a result. So the mershark made sure to never say a word about it.

He’d been bargaining with her for nearly a year now, and in a normal situation and a normal acquaintance, you might gain trust within that time. The sea witch, however, was not a normal acquaintance. She did whatever she wanted and had no boundaries; she was cunning and unpredictable. The mershark knew he was at a high risk by making bargains with her, but he _had_ to. He had no other way of doing his job on the surface, and without this job he could not feed his family.

He reached the end of the cave where an odd bowl of coral sat, the place where she would mix up potions and other magical things the mershark did not know the names of. And there she was, lounging in a giant clam shell chair, looking at herself in a hand mirror. She did that quite often, despite her ugliness; but he knew the true reason for that.

She looked up from her mirror once he had fully entered the room. “Back so soon?” She asked with an odd cheery tone to her voice. “So, how long will it be for this time? A week? Two weeks?”

“I only need two days.”

“Oh? That’s the shortest you’ve ever requested.” She laughed. “That doesn’t mean I’m lowering the price any.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to.” He swallowed. “But I don’t…I don’t have a payment for you today.”

There was a flash of anger in her eyes, but it subsided quickly and her expression softened. She was always skilled at keeping her composure. “Oh? And what makes you think I’d give you something for nothing? Just because you’ve done business with me for a while does not mean I’ll give you any favors.”

“I wasn’t expecting to get something for nothing. Is there something else I can offer you?”

“Well, I’m not sure. What else could you possibly offer me that is more valuable than the black jellyfish you have been trading me?”

“I-I don’t know.” He looked at the ground. “But there must be _something_. I have never been more needed on the surface. It is an emergency and I need to be up there by tonight.”

The sea witch sat up from the comfort of her chair, floated lazily around the room, and hummed a nameless tune; her two eels swam around her and she petted them softly and whispered to them. “What do _you_ think, my lovelies? Think he’s desperate enough to go for it?” Her eels whispered back, but it was too quiet to hear. “Yes, I have been waiting a while, but I think it just might work. All right, let’s try it.” She swam quickly back to her chair and faced the mershark. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Name it!”

“Your _children_ are well, aren’t they?”

His breath caught in his throat. “Y-yes…”

“Good, good. How old is your daughter again?”

“She’s six. But what does she have to do with this?” He asked defensively.

“Six?” She sighed. “Such a long time to wait. But I suppose I can be patient.”

“What are you talking about?”

She grinned and summoned a scroll before him. “A contract. Sign this, and we’ll have a deal.”

“And what exactly is _in_ this contract?”

“Read for yourself, if you wish.”

He didn’t take his eyes off of her as he reached for the scroll and only looked away to read the words on it. His eyes widened in disgust halfway through reading and he angrily threw the scroll in her direction.

“You’ll _own_ my daughter once she turns 16?! What kind of contract is this?! What makes you think I’d ever agree to something like this?!”

She looked slightly disappointed. “Aww, you won’t even _think_ about it?”

“Hell no!”

“But it’s ten years away. You’ll still have the joy of getting to raise her, and just when she comes to that difficult age, you can get that burden off of your hands.”

“My daughter is _not_ a burden! And she is _not_ going to be a part of this bargain! What would you even want her for anyway?!”

“I trust by now that you understand my obsession with youth and beauty.”

“Well obviously.” He grunted. “What _else_ would you use black jellyfish for?”

“And as you can tell,” She gestured toward her own face. “The effects don’t last long. To make true use of their power, you need another in the equation; a true beauty, an innocent one. And your daughter is very beautiful, no? She definitely takes after your wife. Your son too, though they both have your eyes.”

“How the hell do you know anything about what my family looks like?!”

She laughed. “You underestimate my power, my dear mershark.” Her two eels swam gracefully down into her lap and she petted them. “My lovelies do their job.”

The mershark sprang up from his seat and with a loud growl. “Forget it! I’m not signing this, and don’t expect me to ever come back. Good luck getting black jellyfish on your own.” He turned and swam towards the cave to get out, but he felt something tight against him that made him stop. He looked at his waist and saw one of her tentacles wrapped firmly around it. He should have known escaping wouldn’t be this easy.

“Not so fast.” She pulled him toward her and her expression turned dark. “I’m not letting you leave until you sign this contract.”

“Oh, fuck off!”

“Such the sailors’ mouth. Did you pick that kind of language up from the humans?” The mershark glared at her in response. “Now, we can do this the easy way, where you sign willingly and I give you your legs and you can just hurry off to this _urgent_ business on the surface. Or we can do this the hard way, where I _make_ you sign and you get nothing.” Her grip on his waist tightened ever so slightly.

“You’re mad if you think those threats will convince me. I’m not signing that damned scroll; I’d rather die than give you my daughter.”

She cackled. “Well then, fortunately for me, all I need to make this contract binding is your blood.”

His eyes widened as he stared into her now smirking face, and with one swift motion, he felt a stinging at his neck and made a strangled noise. She pulled him closer and made sure to get as much blood onto the scroll as possible; it quivered and glowed at the contact and she laughed again.

“Thank you for your business, it was a pleasure. Sorry to see you go so soon.” She tucked the scroll away and released him from her grasp. He clutched his bleeding throat as he sank to the floor of the room. “Ugh, how bothersome. Lovelies! Please take him out of my sight. I don’t want him to die in my home.”

The eels nodded. “Yes, Mistress.” They slithered over and wrapped themselves around the bleeding mershark to carry him out. Once outside, they detached themselves from him and just let him sink slowly into the trench.

As soon as the eels disappeared, he kicked his tail as hard as he could manage in an attempt to reach the top of the trench. The loss of blood made him feel weak, but he had to at least try. He continued to kick aimlessly, keeping one hand pressed to his throat; though that barely helped at all. He felt himself grow weaker with every kick and he hadn’t made it any higher up.

He felt woozy and everything was starting to blur and darken. With one last kick with the last bit of strength he had, he was able to see the ledge of the trench, but it was too far out of his reach. He started to sink again and everything felt colder…darker. He took a last breath as he sank into the abyss of the trench. “I’m sorry…Gou.” And the darkness enveloped him.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa is a young merman who is fascinated by humans despite his father's distaste for them. He decides to swim to the surface to learn about them firsthand. He spots a blue-haired human running on the beach and is stunned by his beauty. After saving said human from drowning in a storm, Nagisa can't get him off of his mind and eventually asks the sea witch to turn him into a human.

 

* * *

 

 

“Ah…um, Nagisa? Are-are you sure we should be sneaking away like this? _Again?_ ” Makoto stuttered as he swam as close to Nagisa as he possibly could. “I mean, isn’t it your birthday today?”

“Yup! Which is exactly why we’re out here; it’s my birthday so that means I can do whatever I want!”

“Yeah, but to be sneaking out of—”

“Shhh shh!” Nagisa shoved a hand to Makoto’s mouth. “Wait. I think I heard something.” Nagisa swam quickly but quietly to a nearby boulder to take cover and motioned for Makoto to follow. Reluctantly, Makoto obliged and joined Nagisa behind the rock. Nagisa peeked out slightly and chuckled. “Ah, it was nothing. Just a merpilot fish.”

“Oh, well that’s good then.” Makoto sighed in relief. “Wait… _merpilot fish_?! Don’t they normally hang around mersharks?! That must mean there’s one nearby!”

“Makoto, shush! What mershark in their right mind is going to attack a merorca?”

“Well they might see you first and—”

“Calm down, you silly. There aren’t any mersharks around. Come on, follow me!” Nagisa took Makoto’s hand and dragged him along as he swam at top speed, startling some stray fish in the process.

Makoto had been dealing with Nagisa’s spontaneity since they were little, but he never did anything to stop it and rarely protested his friend’s antics; and when he did, Nagisa never listened anyway. Which made it even harder for Makoto because he was supposed to protect him; it was kind of his _job_. It didn’t take them long before Nagisa finally found and pointed out what he was looking for; an odd grouping of coral that was shaped like a bunch of stars. “Ah, Makoto! This is it! The coral that Chigusa told me about!”

“And you’re actually going to _listen_ to her? Don’t you remember what happened the last time we did that?”

“Of course I do! Wasn’t it fun?!”

“I-I don’t recall being chased by those angry swordfish being fun…”

“Well, this is gonna be better, trust me!” Nagisa took a firm hold of Makoto’s hand and pulled him along once again.

Makoto really needed to stop letting Nagisa drag him into these situations, especially when Nagisa’s idea of fun was sure to involve something scary and dangerous. They swam a ways before Makoto felt a shiver as the water seemed to get colder and darker, then suddenly Nagisa let out an awe-inspired gasp.

“Makoto, Makoto! Look!” Makoto froze in place at the sight. Nagisa had dragged him to none other than Shipwreck Rock. _Shipwreck Rock_. The place where shady individuals liked to lurk about and do…well…do _things_ Makoto wasn’t particularly comfortable with.

“N-Nagisa?! Why are we here?!”

“Chigusa told me it’s the best place to get human artifacts and information about the surface. I’m sure I’ll find some treasures to add to my collection!”

“We came here so you can go shopping for your collection?!”

“Well, for my birthday too. Aren’t I allowed to go shopping for myself on my birthday?”

“Ah, well, I never said _that_ , but…ah! Your birthday!” Makoto suddenly remembered. “Nagisa, we need to get out of here and head back home. Your dad planned that—”

“Huh, never have I saw a merorca and such a pretty little merman lurk near these parts.” A gruff voice interrupted Makoto.

Makoto looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it belonged to an older merman with long graying hair, rotting teeth, and a scar over his right eye; the eye beneath the scar was completely white. Makoto assumed it was due to whatever had happened to have caused the scar, but he didn’t want to think about it because he was sure to imagine the worst possible scenarios.

“What brings ya here anyhow?” He swam closer to the pair, too close for Makoto’s comfort. “It can be dangerous for someone as pretty as you to be in a place like this.”

“That’s okay, I have Makoto to protect me!” Nagisa said in his normally bubbly voice, not affected whatsoever by the stranger.

The merman glanced over to Makoto with a look of disbelief before he started chortling; Makoto realized that he was trembling. “Ha! _This_ guy? He’s a merorca, sure, but I ain’t ever saw one as scared as this quiverin’ fool next to ya.”

 “But you don’t know Makoto! He can be brave when he needs to be!”

The merman laughed again and swam away. “Whatever ya say, kid!”

Makoto looked down, feeling ashamed of himself. He was a merorca and he was supposed to be able to protect Nagisa at all costs, but he was just so easily frightened by things.

Nagisa pouted as the stranger left. “Hmph, what a jerk. Let’s go, Makoto!”

“Ah, um…but…there are probably even worse fish folk by the ship.”

“We’ll make it quick, I promise!” Nagisa’s eyes grew wide in a silent plea. 

Makoto sighed and gave in; he was never good at arguing with the blond. Nagisa lit up and they started toward the sunken ship. It had been oddly propped against the side of the rock wall and formed an unnatural cave that Makoto was sure would hold more dangerous fish folk once they ventured inside.

There were a bunch of patrons outside of the ship selling their wares, but Nagisa paid no interest in any of them and headed straight for the dark entrance of the ‘cave’. Hesitantly, Makoto followed. He hated the dark, but he couldn’t let Nagisa go in there alone; it wasn’t safe.

Fortunately, the ship grew lighter the further they got inside due to the ceiling being illuminated by some strange glowing seaweed that _had_ to be the work of some sort of magic. About ten more seconds of swimming and the sellers started appearing. Some praised the items they had for sale and some made snarky and inappropriate remarks; _most_ made the remarks, actually.

“Hey there, youngling. That’s a nice-looking tail you’ve got.”

“Prettiest I’ve seen ‘round these parts. It’s pink, but it has a nice yellow shimmer to it, don’t you think?”

“Oooh, your skin looks so soft.”

“You could make a lot of money off that body of yours, sweetheart.”

“Who is this? Your bodyguard? He don’t look very guard-like.”

Nagisa ignored them all and just swam ahead, a smile still plastered to his face. Then someone approached abruptly and wrapped his arm around Nagisa’s shoulders.

“Why don’t you come back to my place, hm? I’ll show you a good time.”

“No, thank you.”

“Pfft, no thank you, he says. Come on, just for a little while.” The stranger slid his hand down Nagisa’s side.

Nagisa started to look uncomfortable and out of instinct Makoto pushed the pervert off and pulled Nagisa close to him. He wasn’t aware of his own expression, but he assumed it must have been intimidating because everyone suddenly backed off.

Nagisa giggled. “So serious, Makoto.”

“He was being completely inappropriate and who knows what he would have done if I hadn’t—”

“I told you so!” Nagisa interrupted in a sing-song way.

“Wait, what?”

“I told you that you could be brave when you needed to be. Just look at how everyone backed off just now.”

“I…well, that’s…that was—”

“You being brave, you silly. Now, let’s keep going. I haven’t seen anything I don’t have in my collection already.” Makoto felt his expression change and he remembered where they were. Nagisa took notice of this. “We’ll only stop a few times, okay? Then we’ll get out of here. I promise.”

Makoto nodded sheepishly and they swam on. Thankfully, Nagisa kept to his word and they only stopped a few times and Nagisa ended up buying two items he did not have in his collection. One item was small and silver and looked like an odd smaller version of Nagisa’s father’s scepter. The other item was dark brown with a weird shape that was carved from wood.

“Do you know what they are?! What they do?!” Nagisa asked the vendor, completely in awe of the new items.

“I don’t know nor care what they do, kid. I just sell them. Now buy something else or get outta my sight.”

Makoto grasped Nagisa’s arm defensively. “Can we go now, please?”

“Okay, Makoto.” Makoto released Nagisa’s arm and they started to swim back. Suddenly a flash of black and white zoomed by and a young merpilot fish with gray hair appeared in front of them.

“I know someone who can help you if you wanna know about human items!”

“Hey, you’re the merpilot fish I saw before!” Nagisa pointed out.

The boy took a hold of Nagisa’s hand and started to lead him somewhere. “His name is Rin and he knows everything about humans! It’s been slow for a while, so I’m sure he’d love some business!”

“Ah, Nagisa! Hold on a second!” Makoto called and swam after the two before they went out of his sight completely. “Excuse me, sir, but I’d appreciate if you didn’t grab my friend so abruptly like that.” He said sweetly, not wanting to cause any trouble.

“Oh, s-sorry about that!” The boy let go of Nagisa’s hand and put his own behind his back nervously. “It’s just that it’s been so long since Rin had any real business, I got excited. My name’s Ai, by the way!”

Makoto sighed in relief. Finally, someone around here who seemed relatively normal and didn’t give off a menacing aura.

“I’m Nagisa and this is my friend Makoto!”

Ai jumped slightly in surprise at the introduction. “Nagisa?! As in _Prince_ Nagisa?!”

Nagisa chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yup, that’s me.” Makoto knew Nagisa didn’t really like being recognized as the Prince when he went out to public places, but it was kind of difficult to _not_ be when his name was so well-known amongst the sea-dwellers of their kingdom.

“I—wow! It’s an honor to meet you, your highness! Ah, and I…I pulled you around so forcefully before, I’m so sorry!” Ai quickly bent over with a bow.

“Ah, please. No need for any of that formality.” Nagisa motioned for Ai to straighten up. “And please, just call me Nagisa. I don’t really like those fancy titles.”

“Ah, of course, N-Nagisa. So, did you still want to see Rin?”

“Can he really tell me about the items I bought?”

“Of course he can! As I said before, he knows everything about humans!”

 Nagisa looked over to Makoto. “Please, Makoto? Can we go? I know I promised we’d head back after I bought something, but when will I ever get the opportunity to find such valuable information?!”

They had already come this far, and Ai seemed like a nice boy, so he smiled softly and nodded. “Okay, Nagisa.”

“Thank you, Makoto!” Nagisa pulled him into a hug and then they followed Ai into an upper deck of the boat where this so-called-Rin lived.

Ai stopped them right in front of a doorway covered only by a cloth that loosely hung over the frame; there was an old, worn out sign that read ‘Matsuoka’ on the right side of the door.

“Wait here, it’s been a while since we’ve had anyone over, so I should probably tell him you’re here first before I let you in.” Nagisa and Makoto nodded as Ai pulled the cloth back slightly and swam through. Nagisa swam closer to the door, pulling Makoto with him, and tried to peak in. Makoto wasn’t sure what view Nagisa was getting, but he couldn’t get a clear look at this Rin other than a mop of burgundy hair as he lay on a bed with his back turned, but even that was quickly covered by Ai’s form.

“Rin, are you sleeping again?” Rin grunted and threw something at Ai, who easily dodged. “You need to stop doing that while I’m gone or our stuff is going to get stolen.”

“Tch, like any of them have the guts to steal from me whether I’m asleep or not. Now let me be.”

“Rin, you have to get up. I have some customers for you!”

Rin groaned. “Damnit, Ai. What did I tell you about…wait. Customers? Seriously?”

“Yup!”

“Heh, good work, Ai. Let them in!”

“Of course!” Ai swam back to the door and pulled back the cloth. “You can come in now!” Nagisa didn’t hesitate and swam quickly into the room, dragging Makoto behind him; but he stopped abruptly once they were through the door completely. Makoto held back a gasp when he took a look at Rin.

“You…you’re a mershark?!” Makoto stuttered out, trying not to sound completely horrified. He’d never been so close to a mershark before and he wasn’t sure what he should do.

“Of course he is! What kind of fish folk do you think a merpilot fish normally hangs around?” Ai said innocently with a small laugh.

“Ai, what the hell?! You never told me one of them was a merorca. Get him out of here!”

“Ah, but Rin, I don’t really think he’s the aggressive type!”

“I don’t care what you think he is or isn’t! His kind is not allowed in my house!”

“Um…sorry to intrude, Mr. Rin.” Nagisa interrupted curtly. “But Makoto’s my personal bodyguard and friend. He’s not allowed to leave me in here by myself.”

Rin cocked a brow at Nagisa. “A bodyguard? Ha! What kind of young merman needs a bodyguard? What are you, the Prince?”

Nagisa puffed his cheeks out and crossed his arms. “Yes. I _am_ actually. And I have a lot of money I could give you for your business, but not if you give me that kind of attitude.”

Makoto blinked a few times. “Nagisa…” Nagisa never threw his status around willy-nilly like that; so he figured Rin must have really pissed him off. It made Makoto laugh, but he stifled it with his hand in case he angered the mershark any more.

Rin was dumbfounded and looked to Ai for some confirmation. “Ah, it’s true. He’s the Prince all right.”

Rin looked away and cursed under his breath. “Tch. Fine. But you pull anything, merorca, and I swear you’ll regret it.”

Makoto raised his hands in front of him defensively. “I won’t. I’m not here to cause any trouble.”

“Good then.” He back flipped lazily into a chair that sat next to a table and motioned for the two of them to sit. “Now, what have you got for me, _your highness_?”

Nagisa smiled and pulled the items out of his bag and placed them on the table. “Could you tell me about these? What are they called? What do humans use them for?”

Rin leaned over the table and picked up the silver item. “This is a fork. One of the many utensils humans use to eat their meals with. They also use things called spoons, knives, chopsticks…depending on what region they come from.”

“Whoa.” Nagisa’s eyes brightened. “I think I might have some spoons and knives in my collection. Do they look similar to this?”

“Well, normally they’re made from silver or something like this, but there are also wooden and plastic ones as well.”

“So cool! I’ll have to try it out on my meals sometime, huh, Makoto?!”

Rin made a noise in his throat. “Make sure you sterilize it first. That’s just…disgusting.”

“Mhmm. Okay, how about this one?”

Rin took the other item in his hands and examined it carefully; his brows furrowed in concentration. “Ah, that’s right. This is a pipe. Humans put a plant called tobacco in here,” he pointed to the hole at the larger end of it. “And then they light it with fire and puff on the other end and smoke it.”

“With fire?! How exciting!”

“Eh, not really...”

“But fire is so cool! I’ve got a few paintings of it in my collection and I’ve always wanted to see how it works in real life!”

“Just how big is this collection of yours anyways?”

“I have an entire grotto! I’ve been collecting human artifacts for a few years now. They’ve always fascinated me!”

“And you chose to come all the way to Shipwreck Rock to buy some and find out about them? Don’t you have, I don’t know, _teachers_ or _nannies_ or whatever who could tell you about this stuff?”

“Ah, well…my dad doesn’t really like humans, so…he’d never allow that.” Nagisa laughed. “He’d probably kill me if he knew I was here.” Rin furrowed his brows at the blond. “But I don’t care, it’s my birthday and I can do whatever I want today!”

“Oh, that’s right!” Ai squeaked. “Happy Birthday, your hi…ah, I mean, Nagisa. I heard about the celebration at the palace today in your honor. I’ve never been to a party like that before, but it must have been wonderful!”

“Ah, actually. The party’s tomorrow. Dad wanted it to be held on a more convenient day for royals from other parts of the sea and other important fish folk to attend. Today was only supposed to be…dinner with…oh…oh no. I…I completely forgot!” Nagisa scrambled to collect his items from the table and Rin’s hands and shoved them back into his bag. “Oh my god, Dad’s gonna _kill_ me! Why didn’t you remember for me, Makoto?!”

“I _did_ , Nagisa! But you never listen to me…”

“Ack, never mind that! How much do I owe you, Rin?” Nagisa reached into his bag.

“Oh, just a few—” Nagisa threw a small sack of gold coins at Rin. “O-oi! This is…” he opened the bag. “…way too much! I didn’t even give you that much information!”

“Just consider it a payment for future visits! I’ll definitely be coming back…if my dad doesn’t skin me alive first, that is.” He laughed awkwardly. “It was nice meeting you two! Come on, Makoto. We need to go!” Makoto nodded and followed Nagisa out of the room and they both swam so quickly away from the place that Makoto didn’t have time to be scared of anyone that may have given them looks as they zoomed past.

As relieved as Makoto was to finally be leaving this place and heading to safer, warmer waters, he still felt awful for Nagisa. He even felt kind of guilty that he momentarily forgot about Nagisa’s important dinner because he was too caught up in being afraid.

 

* * *

 

 

The swim home was surprisingly a short one and Nagisa shamefully looked away from the menacing gaze of the guards who watched over the front entrance to the palace. Normally Nagisa snuck out of this hidden passageway from his room and avoided the guards, but what was the point in that right now? He knew he was already in enough trouble.

He swam to his dad’s throne room and saw his sisters waiting outside the door. _Great_. Just what he needed.

“Ha! Look who finally decided to show up.”

“You are in _so_ much trouble.”

“Dad’s gonna kick you out, you know?!”

“Kn-knock it off, you three!” Makoto spoke up. “It’s…it’s _my_ fault, okay?”

“Makoto. Don’t. You don’t need to protect me.” He swam past his sisters, sticking his tongue out at them as he did so, and knocked on the giant doors to the throne room.

“You may enter.” Came a gruff voice, and Nagisa could already hear the disappointment in his father’s tone. He swallowed loudly and opened the doors.

“H-hey, Dad…”

“Nagisa.”

“Um…” He looked to the ground. “I know throwing ‘sorry’ out there probably won’t be enough, but—”

“Oh, you think so?”

Nagisa looked back up at his father for a moment before looking away in shame. “I really _am_ sorry, Dad. I just…I just forgot, I—”

“How do you forget such an important dinner being held _on your birthday_? Don’t you care about the royal family that had to swim hundreds of miles just to see you?!”

“It’s not that I don’t care, Dad, I just—”

“This dinner has been planned for months! Meeting with this family was of crucial importance for the bond between our two Kingdoms. Do you have any idea how disrespectful it was to not show up to that?”

“Dad, please just hear me out—”

“I should just cancel your birthday party right now! It’d be a good punishment, don’t you think?”

“D-dad!”

“But I won’t cancel it. You know why? Because now that’s the only other time you can meet properly with this family before they have to leave. Not to mention how many other important people are coming.”

“Well, I’ll still get to meet them at the party, won’t I?! Everything’s going to be fine, right?!”

“Nagisa…” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We needed a formal dinner with them first because you’ll be too busy with everyone else to meet them properly at the party! I just…I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, young man.”

Nagisa lowered his head. “I’m sorry…”

“Tell me, Nagisa. What was oh so important that you forgot and skipped this dinner, hm?”

Nagisa’s breath caught in his throat and he cleared it awkwardly. “Ah, um, well…I, uh…” He tensed up as he talked, but slumped his shoulders once he made eye contact with his father; admitting defeat. He sighed, took his bag off his shoulder, and held it out to him.

Confused, his father took the bag and looked into it. “Nagisa. How many times have I told you…”

“I know…”

“Humans are dangerous! You didn’t go to the surface to get these, did you?!”

“No, no! I…I got them from…Shipwreck Rock…”

“You went to Shipwreck Rock?! That’s even _worse_ , Nagisa! I didn’t know you even knew where that _was_!”

“I know…”

“You could have gotten hurt!”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry!”

“You are to never go there again and you are to go to your room and stay there until the party tomorrow!”

“Yes, sir.” He bowed slightly and opened the doors to leave. His sisters, who were obviously listening through the door, all jolted back once it had opened.

“Hmph, you only got off so easy because it’s your birthday!”

“Yeah, if it wasn’t for these royals attending your stupid party, you would have gotten in _so_ much more trouble!”

 Nagisa was used to his sisters’ snappy attitudes so he easily ignored them and swam straight over to Makoto. “Looks like I’m banished to my room until the party tomorrow, heh.” Nagisa rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well, it could have been worse. I’ll take your bag to the grotto, okay?”

“Ah, well…Dad kind of took that from me.”

“Oh. That’s unfortunate. Can you get it back?”

“I don’t know. I’ll try _after_ the party. I don’t wanna make him anymore angry than he already is.”

“Good idea. Um, I should probably head home; I need to watch Ran and Ren tonight.”

“Okay. See you at the party, Makoto!” Nagisa waved Makoto off and turned around to come face to face with his sisters.

“Well, you heard Dad. Stop dawdling and hurry up to your room now. Shoo!”

“I’m going already, sheesh.” He hurried to his room, sank into his bed, and pouted. “Uugh, I’m such an idiot. How did I forget about the stupid dinner?!” He rolled over onto his side before getting up and looking out the window. He hated being confined to his room when there was an entire ocean to explore. He looked to his door and then again out of the window and smirked. It was just dark enough that no one would see him. And it’s not like his father would come check in on him, he never did.


	3. Chapter 2

It had been easy enough to retrieve his bag from his dad’s throne room the night before after he snuck out of his own bedroom; he was in and out in two minutes flat without any problems. Even though he said he wouldn’t get it until _after_ the party, Nagisa just got the sudden urge once he made it through the secret passage way from his room.

 He carefully placed his new items with the rest of the collection after easily sneaking out again that morning and stuffed a few items into his bag. He had wanted to know about these items for a long time now and he _finally_ had someone who could tell him about them.

He made sure he wasn’t being followed as he swam out from his grotto and took off in a flash once he was sure the coast was clear. He wouldn’t be gone for long, and he _definitely_ wouldn’t forget this time. He was disobeying his father again, sure, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t kill him; and it wasn’t like Nagisa ever got checked in on whenever he was banished to his room as a punishment anyway.

He found the star-shaped coral in no time and hummed a tune as he glided quickly through the water. Once he arrived at Shipwreck Rock, Nagisa noticed that there seemed to be less patrons selling outside the sunken ship than there had been yesterday. He wondered if it had anything to do with his party later that evening because he always heard about people sneaking out items from the royal parties to sell. He swam past the few patrons with ease and was glad when no one bothered him this time.

He made his way up to the next deck, found the door with the familiar cloth hanging over it, and knocked enthusiastically on the frame. It was silent for a few minutes and he wondered if his knock was even heard, so he knocked again, but a little louder this time.

“Yes, I heard you the first time! Just be patient, I’ll be there in a minute.” Nagisa rolled his eyes playfully at the mershark’s tone and started to hum again before the cloth was finally thrown back. “You again? Already? I wasn’t expecting you back so soon with how frantically you left yesterday.”

“Yes, I just wanted to make sure I got the chance to come back here again before my dad gets smart and decides to finally guard my room when I get into trouble.”

“So you’re not supposed to be here, I’m guessing?”

“Exactly!”

Rin groaned. “Well, if the King catches you here, you’d better take full responsibility. No way in hell am I getting in trouble for you.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You brought items to be named, right?”

“Yes, all in here!” Nagisa patted the bag that was flung over his shoulder.

“Okay, come in then, I guess.” Nagisa didn’t hesitate and swam in happily, Rin looked around outside before throwing the cloth back down over the doorway. “I see you didn’t bring that merorca with you this time.”

“Well, he seemed to really bother you before. So I thought it’d be better I didn’t bring him.”

“Good call. Sit and wait here for a second.” Nagisa did so and Rin disappeared through another doorway, which was also covered by a cloth. A few moments of silence passed before Ai entered the room.

“Ah, Prince Nagisa! It’s good to see you again!”

Nagisa smiled. “Oh, hello, Ai! Nice to see you too!”

Ai took a seat next to Nagisa. “Is Rin being nice?”

“I’d say he’s at least _trying_ to be. He seems a lot more at ease without Makoto here, though.”

“Ah, yeah. That makes sense that he would be.”

“Say, Ai? What exactly does he have against merorcas anyway?”

Ai frowned slightly. “Oh. Well…his mother was murdered by a merorca a few years back. It was rather brutal, from what Rin told me…”

Nagisa felt a gasp elude him. “That’s awful! I mean, I know merorcas can be pretty aggressive, that’s why many of them are part of my dad’s royal guard, but I never heard of anything so harsh before. Makoto really _is_ the nicest you’ll ever meet, though! He’d never hurt anyone unless he absolutely had to.”

“I’m sure he is, from what I saw when I met him yesterday. Rin’s just stubborn, is all.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll come around sooner or later.”

Ai nodded and looked to the ground. It was silent for a few moments and he looked as though he was deciding on whether or not to say anything more. “It wasn’t just his mom, though; or at least so Rin thinks.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Rin was seven, his dad left home and never came back. He thinks that the same merorca who killed his mom got to him.”

“Why would he think that?”

“To be honest, I think it’s just a way for him to accept that his dad just never came home. It could have been from any number of things.”

“How sad…losing both of your parents like that. Did he have any other family?”

“Yeah, a younger sister our age.”

Nagisa brightened up a bit. “Oh? Does she live here with you guys? I’d love to meet her.”

“Well, she _did_ , but she…” Ai looked to the ground. “…went missing a few months ago.”

Nagisa’s mood dwindled again and he looked absolutely devastated. “So he’s lost _everyone_?! That’s just terrible!” Nagisa threw his hands up dramatically before flopping them back down with a smack against the chair. “Ah, well, I suppose he does have you, though.” Nagisa smiled reassuringly.

“Kind of a pathetic replacement for a family, if you ask me…”

“Aww, don’t say that, Ai! I’m sure Rin is really happy he has you! At least he’s not completely alone.”

“I guess.” Ai shrugged. “I could never live up to his sister, though. She was really fun and such a sweetheart. She was really pretty too! She looks a lot like Rin, with the same eye color and a similar hair color; but she kept hers really long and liked to tie it back with these little blue sea shells.”

“She sounds wonderful, Ai.”

“Ahem.” The two boys jumped at the sudden sound of Rin’s voice. How long had he been there?

Ai stuttered. “Ah, s-sorry, Rin! I-I hope I wasn’t—”

“It’s fine. Just...don’t mention it again.” Ai nodded apologetically. Rin sat down and looked to Nagisa. “So, what have you got for me?”

“Ah, right!” Nagisa reached into his bag and set its contents on the table. Rin examined them one by one, not taking long at all to identify them and give a small explanation of their functions. Nagisa learned he had a pair of glasses, which were used to help humans enhance their vision, and a butterfly brooch, which was some sort of jewelry humans pinned to their clothes; he had heard of butterflies before, and he wanted to see them for himself one day. After that, he only had one item left to be identified and this one was what Nagisa was looking forward to learning about the most.

Rin squinted his eyes at the shining object in heavy concentration. “I think this is a…what do you call it? A locker?”

“A locket?” Ai chimed in.

“Ah! A locket! That’s right!”

“Ooh, what’s it for?” Nagisa asked wide-eyed.

“It’s another piece of jewelry; a necklace.” Rin fiddled with it and looked as though he was trying to open it like a clam. “It’s supposed to be able to open here and there’s usually something very precious to the owner inside.”

“Ooh, like what?!” Nagisa inquired, taking the locket from Rin and giving a go at opening it himself.

“Normally things like photographs; sometimes even secret messages.”

Nagisa dug his nails into the thing to pry it open, but to no avail. It was hopelessly stuck. “Aww, I wish I could see inside. It’s shut pretty tight.”  

“I suppose that _is_ the point.” Rin shrugged. “Is that all you have for me?”

“Ah, yes; for today. I’ll definitely come back soon!” Nagisa started to pack up his bag.

“Make sure you don’t get into any more trouble.” Ai mused, smiling simply.

“I’ll try! Thank you again!” He waved and swam quickly out of the room and escaped from the ship as fast as he could. He had to make sure he _wasn’t_ going to be late.

As always, Nagisa avoided the guards with practiced precision; being around them so much made it easier to predict how they moved. Once he slipped past them, he smirked and hurried to the hidden passage that led to his room. He rounded the corner quickly, but came to an abrupt halt when he ran into something; or _someone_ , rather. Nagisa shook his head out from the impact and looked up, noticing his youngest sister glaring at him.

“Uh-ah! S-sis! Um, fancy seeing you here, heh heh!”

“Nagisa…what-what are you doing out of your room?! And with _that_ bag?! Father specifically said that you were to—”

“I know, I know. I just needed to do something really quick!”

“Oh, you are in _so_ much trouble!” A smug look formed on her face and she started back where Nagisa came from. “Oh, Hyosuke! Hyosuke could you—” Nagisa covered her mouth and dragged her back into a hiding place.

“Shhhh! Don’t call Hyo over here! If he sees me he’ll take me straight to Dad and I’ll be in for it big time!”

She scoffed. “That’s the point, you idiot. Now let me go, I have business with Hyo, if you don’t mind.”

“Ah, please! Don’t! I’ll do anything, please!”

“ _Anything_?” She sneered. “Okay then. Get Makoto to dance with me at the party tonight, then you’ve got a deal.”

“Deal!”

“But it has to be a slow dance! And for two entire songs! _And_ he has to at least _look_ like he’s enjoying it!”

“Makoto will never agree to all _that_! You know you creep him out, right?!” Nagisa whined.

His sister took in a deep breath. “HYOSUKE!”

“Okay, okay, okay, deal!” He took her hand in a firm shake as a promise just before Hyo swam up and looked around worriedly.

“Y-your highness?”

His sister looked to Nagisa and whispered. “You’re lucky Makoto’s so hot.” She swam out from the hiding place and put on her flirting smile. “Ah, sorry, Hyosuke. I was just wondering if you would be so kind and assist me back inside?”

Hyo blushed brilliantly before nodding. “Of-of course, your highness.”

“Thank you!” He nodded again and led her around the corner and they were out of sight. Nagisa waited a few more minutes before he sidled out of his hiding place and rushed back to his room. He sighed in relief once he made it back with no one else noticing and he made a motion to stash his bag underneath his bed, but saw there was someone laying on top of it.

“Ahhh!” Nagisa jolted back. “I was just out really quick to get out of my stuffy room for just a few short minutes, I swear! I was just—”

“Nagisa, calm down.” Makoto sat up from his bed.

“Oh, Makoto, it’s just you.” He took a deep breath and put his hand to his chest. “Thank goodness.”

“What were you doing out anyways? Your father just asked me to check up on you.”

“He…did? He’s never done _that_ before.”

“Well, looks like he’s finally catching on.”

“You-you didn’t tell him I was gone did you?!”

“Of course not! I just got in a few minutes ago, so it’s not like I had time anyways…”

“Makoto!”

“I’m kidding.” He smiled. “What kind of friend would I be?” Nagisa laughed in relief, but then in guilt as he thought about his sister.

“Uh, um…now I feel bad, heh.”

“What, why?”

“Well, I ran into my sister and she was gonna tell on me, and the only way she wouldn’t is if I got you do dance with her at the party tonight.”

“Oh. Well, that’s not really too bad of a...wait. _Which_ sister?” Nagisa smiled awkwardly and tensed his shoulders up guiltily. “Nagisa!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know she’s really weird about her crush on you and stuff, but I would have gotten in so much more trouble!”

“Then why’d you sneak out in the first place? Would it have killed you to stay put for one day?”

“Yes.” Nagisa said seriously. “You know how jittery I get; I can’t stay cramped in a room all day!” Makoto sighed and shook his head. “But I finally found out what these were!” Nagisa retrieved his bag and dumped out the contents; he held out the glasses to Makoto. “Remember these?! You’re meant to wear them on your face and they’re supposed to help enhance your vision! Your vision’s a little blurry, right? Try them on!”

“Nagisa…I’m not sure they’d work under wat—”Nagisa shoved them on Makoto’s face before he could further protest. “Nagisa! I...wow. They actually _work_!” Makoto laughed. “It’s so amazing, Nagisa! I can actually see things that are farther away from me now!”

“They’re yours, then. It’ll be a gift to make up for tonight, okay? Though, I’m not sure how often you can wear them…them being a human thing and all.”

“I’ll explain to your father and won’t tell him I got them from you. I’m sure he’ll at least consider them since they help me see better.”

“Yeah! All the better to see and protect me, my dear!” Nagisa giggled to himself, remembering a silly human tale.

“Well, I’d better head out or else your father will get suspicious.”

Nagisa nodded. “Right.” Makoto turned toward the door. “Ah, wait! The glasses. You’d better keep them here for now.”

“Good idea.” Makoto slipped off the glasses, looking slightly disappointed at the loss of the clear vision, and he handed them back Nagisa. “See you tonight!”

“See you!” Nagisa waved and Makoto left the room.

Nagisa’s father showed no signs of knowing he had been out of his room when he came to collect him for the party a few hours later. He actually seemed to be in a pretty good mood, and for that Nagisa was relieved.

 The ball room had been rigorously decorated and although Nagisa loved bright colors, they seemed to be a little bit _too_ much; but Nagisa was still more than thankful. He spotted Makoto and made his way to go say hello, but was pulled away by his father and brought up to the front to welcome and thank everyone for coming.

The festivities then officially started and Nagisa was greeted by the royals he was meant to have met the previous night. He felt extremely guilty when his father introduced him, but they didn’t seem to be bothered by his absence at the dinner. The King was not present due to an illness and could not make the trip, so it was just the Queen and her daughter. The Queen, Kimiko, had a very serious face and she appeared very tired and stressed, but she spoke with kind words.

“You’re a very handsome young merman, Nagisa.”

“Ah, thank you.” Nagisa said with his signature smile.

“He’s also quite smart once he applies himself.” Nagisa’s dad slipped in with a grin. “He may be a bit of a trouble-maker at times, but he _can_ take his lessons very seriously.”

“Oh, I’m sure once he settles down he’ll stop with all the trouble-making nonsense. I know _I_ did.” The Queen laughed. “Anyway, Nagisa. I’d like you to meet my daughter Emi.” She turned to usher the Princess out from where she was hiding behind her.  She gave a shy smile and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear.

“N-nice to meet, Nagisa.”

“Nice to meet you too, Emi.” Nagisa said with a bright smile. “I apologize for not meeting with you and your mother for dinner last night.”

“It-it’s okay! I’m happy I could meet with you now.”

The fast melody emanating through the ball room faded into a slower one and there was a short silence between Nagisa and Emi. Nagisa’s dad elbowed him softly and angled his neck toward the dance floor as if to give him a hint. Nagisa let out a soft ‘oh’ that only he could hear and nodded before turning back to Emi.

“Would you like to dance?”

Emi’s face turned as red as a crab and she twirled her finger through her hair before nodding and taking Nagisa’s hand. Nagisa wasn’t the best dancer, but he could remember the few lessons he had been given as a child. Emi didn’t seem to mind, though, since she seemed too nervous and looked everywhere but at Nagisa’s face.

As he twirled her, Nagisa couldn’t help but wonder how dancing was like for humans. Was it harder to do without having water to float around in? And what did they even do with their legs? Nagisa laughed to himself thinking about how ridiculous it must look. Oh, how he wished he could witness it or even _try it_ one day. He sighed and shook his head; _but that’s impossible, Nagisa._

A few more spins and Nagisa noticed other couples had started dancing as well and he spotted his sister and Makoto awkwardly thrashing about; his sister was obviously trying to lead. Makoto caught Nagisa’s eyes and shot a rare glare in his direction that said he was going to get his revenge; Nagisa just grinned idly in response.

The song faded into another quick one, and the fish folk responded accordingly by parting from their companions and moving their bodies faster to the beat; Nagisa and Emi parted as well.

“T-thank you for the dance, Nagisa! I’ll be looking forward to get to know you better!” She bowed awkwardly and swam away as fast as her fin could carry her before Nagisa could reply. He shrugged it off and looked to his father who gave a nod of approval, indicating that he was free to wonder around, dance, eat, do anything his heart desired; it _was_ his party after all.

After gorging on some food at the buffet table, Nagisa ran into Makoto who was out of breath from trying to avoid further contact with Nagisa’s sister.

“How come you never told me you promised her _two_ dances?”

“Ah, I must have forgotten to mention it.” Nagisa rubbed the back of his neck and Makoto groaned at him. “Sorry, sorry!”

“Well, I’m just glad it’s over with. But you owe me more than those glassy things.”

Nagisa laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Mackerel?” Nagisa offered some of the fish to the merorca.

“Sure. It’s been a while since I’ve had mackerel, actually.” Makoto took it and began eating. “Who was that girl you were dancing with earlier?”

“Oh, Emi? She’s the princess from the northern kingdom, part of the royal family I was supposed to meet for dinner last night.”

“Ah. She was a pretty little thing, huh?”

“Oh, yeah; I suppose she was. I didn’t really think about it.” Nagisa shrugged. “I’m not really interested in girls. I just want to explore and learn more about humans!”

The rest of the evening had gone by incredibly slow and it hadn’t felt much like previous birthday parties to Nagisa. It seemed duller, more grown up. But Nagisa was 16 now; he was of marrying age, so he supposed that was part of growing up. Not that Nagisa really ever had a problem with growing up or anything, the years just zoomed by so fast.

Nagisa thanked everyone once again for coming and said his goodbyes and goodnights as everyone filed out of the ball room. Nagisa sank into the nearest chair, feeling tired, though he couldn’t understand why since he didn’t really do much at the party.

He looked over to the door and spotted his dad talking with Queen Kimiko, who seemed to be in a much more cheerful mood than earlier as she was laughing and smiling quite vibrantly. She looked down and said something to Emi, who was twirling her hair shyly and smiling as she had before. She gave Nagisa a quick glance and then nodded to her mother.

Kimiko looked even more delighted and said something to Nagisa’s dad, who nodded in response and kissed her hand before she left with Emi in tow. His dad swam over to Nagisa, and he was glad to see he was still in a very good mood.

“Okay, Nagisa, you’re going to be starting new lessons tomorrow.”

“New lessons? For what?”

“For running a kingdom, of course! You are 16 after all.”

“I have three older sisters, though. And I’m sure each of them will want to get married and have kids eventually, that’s all they ever talk about. I’d probably die before I ever got the chance to—”

“O-one could never be too safe!” Nagisa furrowed his brows at his dad’s odd tone. “It’s all still very good information to know, Nagisa. It’s a Prince’s duty to his kingdom whether he reigns or not. The lessons won’t last long if you pay attention and grasp everything quick enough.”

Nagisa sighed. _Might as well get it over with_. “Okay, okay.”

“Good. Miho will come to collect you after breakfast tomorrow. So don’t be late.”

“Yes, sir!” Nagisa said in salute.

“Now go get some sleep, you have a busy few weeks ahead of you.” Nagisa nodded, got up from the chair, and gave his dad a quick hug.

“Night, Dad.”

“Goodnight, Nagisa.”

Nagisa swam off to his room quickly and stared at the ceiling once he had gotten comfortable on his bed. “A few weeks, huh?” He sighed and pouted. He would barely have any time to bring more items to Rin if he was busy all day with lessons. He’d have to figure _something_ out. He wasn’t going to let his money go to waste.


	4. Chapter 3

It took a lot longer than Nagisa anticipated, but he didn’t take into consideration that the route he took earlier would look so much different in the dark. After wasting fifteen minutes being lost, Nagisa finally found the star-shaped coral and he knew the rest of the way from there.

Nagisa had come to the conclusion the night before that he would wake up early enough so he’d have the time to visit Rin before he was expected to be at breakfast. So, he decided to leave before dawn. He gathered a few things from his collection to ask about, but this time he mainly wanted to ask questions about things he could _not_ collect. Like the dancing thing Nagisa wondered about at the party.

He reached Shipwreck Rock and it was, not surprisingly, far creepier in the dark hours of the morning; though most of the patrons doing their selling were gone or asleep by their stands with everything packed away for the night previous. That didn’t make Nagisa feel any safer, however, as he swam towards the entrance to the ship.

He kind of wished he brought Makoto along, but he figured that’d be a bad idea with Rin’s stubbornness. Luckily, no one bothered Nagisa or even took notice of him as he quietly swam by and headed to the upper deck where Rin lived.

He knocked softly on the frame of the door and heard a really loud grunt and scuffle before Rin finally answered, looking very sleepy.

“Oh, well isn’t it _his highness_ back to grace my humble home with his presence.” Rin grumbled sarcastically.

“Hey, what’s with the tone? I gave you money in advance, didn’t I?”

“Fucking hell, do you have any idea what time it is?! I don’t care who you are, you can’t just come knocking on people’s doors this early in the morning.”

“Ah, I know. Sorry about that. I’m just gonna be busy with these new lessons for a few weeks and the early morning is the only time I’ll get to come. I want to get my money’s worth, at least!”

Rin groaned and slid his hand down his face in annoyance. “Fine, since you _did_ pay me a lot, I guess it’s the least I can do. Just try to give me some warning next time, will you?”

Nagisa nodded enthusiastically and followed Rin as he let him in.

“Rin? What’s going on?” Ai mumbled sleepily as he sat up on the bed and rubbed his eye.

“Just servicing the dear Prince here again. Go back to sleep.” Ai nodded, fell back onto the bed, and was asleep instantly.

Rin motioned for Nagisa to sit at the table. “So, what do you want to know now?”

Nagisa dumped out the few items he had in his bag and Rin identified them easily as a bottle of cologne, a broken tea pot, and a bag of marbles. Nagisa _insisted_ that Rin teach him how to play the game of marbles, but he said it’d be difficult while under the water. Nagisa just pouted, and opted on asking him a few questions instead.

He asked about dancing and Rin scoffed loudly before laughing at him. “What do you want to know about _that_ for? We have dancing down here too, y’know.”

“I know that! I mean, it must be extremely different than how we do it here. They have legs to worry about and I can imagine it’d be a lot more difficult to do out of the water.”

“Well, you guessed it.” Rin said a-matter-of-factly. “Humans flail around and fall on their asses a lot when they try to dance. It’s not something everyone can do well, and a _lot_ of practice is needed. But I suppose when it’s done right, it might look kinda nice.”

Nagisa sighed contentedly and wished he could see it. That’d be one of the first things he would want to do if he ever got the chance to be a human; that and eat. He could just eat and watch a dance and maybe even try it out himself.

After Nagisa had no more questions and realized he’d better get going, he bid Rin goodbye and that he’d be back soon; much to Rin’s chagrin. He made it to breakfast only a few minutes late after returning his bag to the grotto, but his father did not question him nor did he even seem to be the least bit suspicious that Nagisa had snuck out.

Miho arrived right on time as expected and took Nagisa to the study to begin their lessons. Miho was strict but kind and she always spouted out famous quotes to try and make her lessons more relatable to real life, even though they never made any sense to what she was teaching or the given situation at hand. Nagisa always liked that about her, though, even when he was a kid; it made her lessons a lot less boring at least.

But even those silly quotes wouldn’t help that now, because this was the most boring thing Nagisa ever had to sit through. She was lecturing about all the formalities of running a kingdom and the tasks Nagisa would have to perform if he were to take the throne.

“I know you have three older sisters and it’s likely only the eldest will ever sit on the throne if she has heirs to take her place once she is gone, but you _should_ know this. It’s valuable information—”

“Whether or not I actually reign. I _know_.” Nagisa grumbled as he laid his head down on his folded arms that rested on the rock in front of him. “I get it, okay. So, please continue.” _So I can get out of here as soon as possible._

“Of course. And remember, ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.’”

Nagisa laughed under his breath. _I wish I_ could _live as if I were to die tomorrow. But instead I’m stuck here dying of boredom._

The next few days went by painfully slow and Nagisa was finding it difficult to pay attention. But he had to, that way he would understand quicker and the lessons would finally come to an end. He had been given so many tasks to do _outside_ of the lessons that he grew extremely tired by the time night came and all he wanted to do was sleep as long as possible the next morning. Unfortunately, getting more sleep meant not waking up early enough to go visit Rin and Ai, which was horrible because he had so many more things he still wanted to ask about.

One morning, Nagisa forced himself to wake up early enough to go back to Shipwreck Rock, and he did so for the next few days. He found he’d rather learn about things like fireworks and ferris wheels than sleeping in anyways; and the visits always made his boring day of tasks and lecture that much more bearable. Rin, however, was actually feeling pestered by the early mornings with Nagisa; and he finally told him so one morning when Nagisa had decided to arrive an hour earlier than usual.

“Look, I know you paid me in advance and stuff but…seriously, kid, you are extremely annoying and I find that a lot harder to deal with so early in the morning.” That should have hurt Nagisa, but it really didn’t. He was used to being called annoying, so it didn’t bother him anymore; at least not as much as it used to when he was younger. “If you really wanna learn more about stuff you don’t have in your collection, then why not just…I donno…swim to the surface and find out stuff for yourself? Fishermen and sailors have a _lot_ of information you could get just from tagging behind their ships and listening.”

“That sounds _wonderful_ , Rin. But…how could I ever? I mean, my father would kill me then proceed to somehow banish my dead corpse to my room for eternity if he ever found out I went to the surface, even if I kept myself completely hidden from the humans.”

“Well, you’re already disobeying him by coming here, aren’t you? What’s the harm in going to the surface? He’d probably be equally as mad if he ever found out about either of them, wouldn’t he? Besides, getting information first hand from the source is a lot better than getting it from me, right?”

Nagisa pondered Rin’s words for a bit. It actually seemed doable, and Nagisa was dead either way, so why not aim for something bigger, more exciting? “You know what?” Nagisa dramatically slammed his fist on the table. “I think I will!”

Rin let out a breath of relief and got up from his chair to push Nagisa towards the door. “Good good!”

“I’ll come visit again at a more convenient hour when I get the chance! Oh, and let Ai know as well! Tell him I said goodbye when he wakes up!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rin pushed him closer to the door.

“Oh, and keep the rest of the money. A gift from me!”

Rin stopped shoving and actually gave Nagisa a genuine smile. “Thanks.”

“Of course! You’re my friend after all, no matter how much you find me annoying, it’s what friends do! You can’t get rid of me that easily.” Nagisa gave Rin a hug before rushing out of the room and eventually outside of the ship.

Nagisa left Shipwreck Rock and was about to head home when he realized he had only been there for about ten minutes, and he’d even arrived an hour earlier than usual. Nagisa looked at the open water above him, feeling himself shaking with excitement, and he decided he had enough time to go for it; he’d just look around for a short while to get used to it. He took a deep breath, kicked his tail as hard as he could, and zoomed upward.

“This is it, Nagisa. You’re doing this, you’re actually doing this! No turning back now!” He kept swimming, feeling his heartbeat speed up, and he was sure he was going to explode with anticipation. Just how far up _was_ the surface anyway?

And before he knew it, Nagisa had breached the surface. He flew a few feet out of the water due to swimming so fast, and it scared him a bit, but he laughed to himself once he crashed back into the water. He was shaking, his heart was racing, and he couldn’t stop smiling; he did it!

He looked in all directions around him, not spotting any boats or humans nearby, which was a relief. He would have really freaked out if a human had seen him come shooting out of the water like that. It was still a little dark outside, and Nagisa was able to see some stars as he looked up to the sky. All he could think was ‘beautiful’ as he gazed at them, wishing to see how they looked when it was fully dark outside.

He laughed again and started swimming aimlessly and jumping in and out of the water. He swam deeper underwater a few times so he could get enough speed to fly out. He was having the time of his life.

After swimming and jumping a while, Nagisa spotted land not too far away, and he knew he had to investigate. As he drew closer he noticed there was a castle on the beach, much larger and more magnificent then the one he lived in, and he needed to get a closer look.

He was nearly to the shore when he found the perfect boulder to hide behind just in case. He stared up at the large brick walls in wonder. “This place is _huge_. I wonder how they get to the higher floors…”

Without warning, Nagisa heard a very loud and very strange noise in the direction of the castle followed by the voice of, who he assumed, was a human.

“No, Manami! Stay! Brother would get angry with me if I let you out today after your grooming last night. Yes, that’s a good girl.”

Nagisa rushed behind the boulder to hide and started to tremble; was he actually going to see a human up close? On his first day to the surface no less? He couldn’t keep himself from grinning stupidly as he peered from behind the rock to have a look. A few short minutes, and there he was, a human emerging from what looked like a hidden pathway within a group of trees that _must_ have led to the castle.

As the human walked closer to the shore, Nagisa’s eyes shined in amazement. He was _beautiful_. The most beautiful creature Nagisa had ever seen, and he was sure that wasn’t just because he was fascinated by humans either. He was quite tall, had strong-muscled arms, the most interesting blue hair, and he even had a pair of glasses on!

“So they _do_ wear glasses.” Nagisa whispered excitedly to himself. He couldn’t wait to tell Makoto. The human then started performing some stretches and Nagisa _really_ got to see just how deliciously toned his arms were. “ _Deliciously_?” He giggled quietly to himself. “Odd choice of word there, Nagisa.”

During and right after the stretches, Nagisa noticed the human had been muttering something under his breath; and oh how he wished he could hear. The human then took a deep breath and started sprinting along the stretch of beach. Nagisa, too, took in a breath, and was in complete awe. He’d heard of running before, and it always sounded like a silly activity for humans to do, but the way this human did it left Nagisa staring with his mouth agape and his eyes sparkling.

He shook himself out of his daydream and decided to try and follow him by swimming discreetly along the shore. He was a fast swimmer, but it still took him a few minutes to catch up with the human; he managed to keep up with him once he _did_ catch up, however.

He followed the human even as he turned around and ran back to where he started; and he continued running up and down the beach. Nagisa started to get out of breath after the third time around, and he wondered how this human could even have this much stamina. Swimming must take more energy than running...that had to be it.

Nagisa swam back to hide behind his boulder and only had to wait a few more minutes until the human stopped running, sat down on a rock, and started drinking from a container. He was muttering to himself again and looked at some sort of device that was wrapped around his wrist.

He looked pleased and got up after taking another drink. He set the container down and started to stretch again. Nagisa bit his lower lip as he watched him bend over to reach his feet with his hands; he really was beautiful. Nagisa never knew how aesthetically pleasing the human body could be, much more so than his tail, in his opinion.

After staring in awe for what seemed like forever, Nagisa noticed that the sun had already rose and he panicked because he needed to get to breakfast before his father came to look in his room and not find him there. Nagisa took one last glace at this beautiful, blue-haired human, and he dived back into the water and swam as quickly as possible to get back home.

Once he finally made it, he was a good ten to fifteen minutes late; and he had to deal with his father who had his arms crossed and wore a stern expression. “Sorry, Dad. I um…I over slept.”

His dad narrowed his eyes before sighing and unfolding his arms. “Well, you _have_ been arriving on time every morning. So I suppose I can let you off this time. Just don’t do it again, okay?”

“Of course!” Nagisa smiled and sank into a chair to down his breakfast really quick before Miho came to collect him for his lessons. He could not believe his luck; he was sure his dad would have suspected the worse.

Nagisa’s mind kept drifting off during his lessons that day and he nearly hurt himself three separate times while daydreaming about his first time above the surface. He couldn’t stop thinking about going back up there; he didn’t even care if he saw any other humans as long as he got to see the same one with blue hair and glasses.

After losing sleep from anticipation, Nagisa woke up before sunrise the next morning and decided to swim to the surface again. It took him a few minutes once he breached, but he was able to recall the way he went to find that castle again and he waited impatiently behind his rock once he arrived.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long before he heard the sound of footsteps emerging from the tree-lined pathway. Nagisa took in a breath and released it only once his human was in view. He was just as lovely as the day previous and he looked ready to run again; and he did just that after his routine stretches. Nagisa couldn’t help but quietly follow once again; he didn’t want to lose sight of him.  

On about the third time around, Nagisa started to feel tired and he splashed down a bit louder than he intended and he was able to catch a glimpse of the blue-haired boy suddenly skid to a halt across the sand and nearly fall over. On his swim back to the boulder, he heard the human mutter something that sounded like “Probably just some large fish thrashing about” before he composed himself and continued his run.

Nagisa laughed quietly to himself. Had his splash caused him to nearly fall over? Nagisa’s smiled faded once he realized he had nearly been seen by a _human_. “Whoa, that was a close one.” He gulped quietly to himself. He peered from behind the boulder and saw the human had rounded for another lap. Nagisa was too tired to join him, so he just continued to watch until the sun rose.

Not wanting to risk being late, Nagisa left earlier than he would have liked, but there was always tomorrow. Watching a human so close was so exhilarating that he definitely intended to come back every morning if he could.

Nagisa made it without arriving late this time, and thus he avoided a scolding from his father and made it through another breakfast with no suspicions from anyone.

And that’s how it went over the course of the next few weeks. Nagisa would wake up early to take a trip to watch his human and return home just in time for lessons. Some may think it boring to just sit and watch a human do the same thing every day, but not Nagisa. He discovered something new every day while watching him.

Nagisa discovered that he indeed lived in the castle, and that he liked to mutter calculations under his breath as he rested in between runs or during his stretches. He would adjust his glasses far too many times, which Nagisa assumed was a nervous habit, and he would also sometimes stop completely to admire the sunrise and take in the summer air; this being a rare time Nagisa could see his normally serious face soften and the corners of his mouth turn up ever so slightly. His heart fluttered every time at that, though he couldn’t quite understand why.

He was never bored because although those morning runs were normally routine and perfectly fit to a schedule, they weren’t always exactly the same. Sometimes the human would bring a strange furry creature down to run with him; who Nagisa later found out was that ‘Manami’ he remembered hearing about on his first day there. Other times another human, who _had_ to be of some sort of kin relation due to his resemblance in appearance, joined him and teased him about his apparent love for beauty and perfection. Nagisa only saw the other human a few times, but he never complained; he was more interested in glasses-boy anyways.

Nagisa, to his dad’s disappointment, kept zoning off thinking about his surface visits during lessons, and thus they had to run longer than he wanted in the first place. But he didn’t really care how long it took anymore, just as long as he got to see his human every morning.

One morning, however, he ran into Makoto while he was trying to sneak out. He was actually really happy to see him because it had been ages and he couldn’t find the time between his secret trips to the surface and his lessons.

“I see you’re wearing the glasses! Did you talk to my dad about them?”

“Yeah. He was unsure about them at first…he thought they were going to eat away my face or some other ridiculous thing like that.” Makoto laughed. “But he allowed them, and it’s been really nice. I never realized how blurry the things far away from me really were. So, thank you!”

“Of course! I’m glad they’re working well for you. Oh! And speaking of glasses…” Nagisa lowered his voice to a whisper. “You’ll never guess what I’ve seen over the past few weeks.”

“Oh, did you happen to find more?! That’d be cool to see…hey, wait a minute! You haven’t been exploring without me have you? You know how dangerous it is to—”

“No, no! Well…sort of. I haven’t been _exploring_ exactly, more like observing.”

“Observing what?”

Nagisa pulled Makoto closer and took a deep breath before grinning madly and running his mouth a million miles an hour. “Only the most beautiful creature I have ever seen before! He’s amazing, Makoto! He wears glasses, red ones, and he won’t stop adjusting them even if they don’t need to be. And he’s super serious, but he lightens up when he sees something beautiful, it makes me happy to see him smile, like all tingly inside. And he’s so beautiful when he runs, it’s amazing! You have to see it!”

Makoto put on a teasing smile. “Oho, he sounds fascinating, Nagisa. And what’s with you? You never take interest in others often. Sounds to me like you have some sort of cru…wait. When he _runs_?”

“Of course! He’s a human, silly!”

Makoto blinked. “A human. A _human_?!”

“Yup!”

“You went to the surface?! You’ve been watching a _human_?!”

“Shh, not so loud, Makoto! It’s a secret, okay?”

“Nagisa, do you have any idea how dangerous this is? The surface…what if he saw you? What would you do then?”

“Well, I guess I’d just swim away? But he won’t see me, I have a good hiding spot. And he hasn’t seen me yet and it’s been a few weeks, so I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”

Makoto sighed. “Nagisa…” He brought his palm up to his face. “If your dad finds out…”

“You’re not gonna tell him, are you?!”

“Of course not! I just…if he ever _did_ find out, I’m really worried about what he’d do.”

“Well, that’s why I’m making sure he _won’t_ find out. Ah, it’s getting late, I need to get going before the sun rises!”

“Wait, go _where_?! You’re not going back up there, are you?!”

“Of course. I do this every morning. See you later, Makoto!” Nagisa smiled nonchalantly and turned away from Makoto, but he was stopped abruptly when a hand grasped his arm. “M-Makoto?”

“I…I’m not gonna let you go.” Nagisa’s smile diminished. “At least…not without me. It’s dangerous and I can’t believe you’ve been going up there without me for so long!”

Nagisa eyes widened in surprise. “You’re gonna come with me?! Oh, Makoto, I’m so excited!” Nagisa slipped his arm out of his hold and he took Makoto’s arm instead. “Just wait till you see him! He’s so amazing!”

The blond vigorously tugged Makoto along and, despite Makoto’s protests of going too fast, sped toward the surface at an alarming pace.

“Nagisa wait! I’m not mentally prepared to be breaching the surfaaahhh!” Makoto clenched his eyes shut as they drew closer and braced himself for the impact.

Nagisa loved that the rush of surfacing never went away and he always felt so alive, he always felt like he was where he belonged. As he took in the air and gazed up at the fading stars, he heard Makoto’s breathing start to get heavy. “Ah, Makoto it’s okay, just take normal breaths. And open your eyes! Look at how beautiful it is up here.”

Makoto’s breathing steadied and he peeked with one eye slowly, opening the other not too long afterwards. It was silent between the two as they both took in the scene. “Wow, it’s...it _is_ beautiful.”

“Okay, no more dawdling, let’s go!” Nagisa ushered for Makoto to follow and he obliged. They swam for a few more minutes before reaching the all too familiar castle. “Here, this is the boulder I hide behind. Perfect, right? It’s close enough for me to be able to hear him talk, but far enough out that there’s plenty of water to float in—ahh shh shh! There he is!”

“I wasn’t saying any—”

Nagisa covered Makoto’s mouth with his hand. “Shhhh! He’ll hear you!”

The human emerged right on time just like always, and he was even more beautiful than the day before. Nagisa watched with glittering eyes as the blue-haired boy stretched and started his run. Since Makoto was with him, he decided to stay by the rock and not try to follow like he usually did.

Nagisa rested his chin in his hands. “See? Isn’t he the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen?”

“Do you watch him run every day?”

“Sure do!”

“Don’t you ever get bored watching the same thing every day?”

Nagisa sighed contentedly. “Mmm, never.”

Makoto took note of Nagisa’s half-lidded gaze at the human and chuckled sweetly. “He _is_ rather interesting like you said, and it’s not that he isn’t beautiful, but it seems like your little crush has made you a bit biased.”

Nagisa whipped his head around to look at Makoto as his face turned bright red. “I-I don’t have a crush! He’s just—fascinating is all! You know how interested I am in human stuff!”

Makoto smiled deviously. “Uh huh, sure. And I suppose you give all the human artifacts the same exact look, right?”

Nagisa’s face grew hotter and he lowered it halfway into the water to try and hide his embarrassing expression. _Did_ he have a crush? He loved human things, sure, and he could have easily gone looking for sailors and fisherman to find out more information, but he didn’t. He really felt drawn to this human and he didn’t want to stop coming to watch him. What if he _did_ have a crush? How would he even do something about it? Has this kind of thing ever happened with a human and a merperson before? His mind started to wonder into various more unanswerable questions, but Makoto’s voice snapped him back to reality.

“Hey, looks like he’s stretching again. Oh, and it seems he’s taken off the clothing covering his upper body.”

“He _what_?!” Nagisa rushed to look around the boulder and sure enough the human was standing there with his torso completely exposed and he was panting. Nagisa felt himself blush again as he gazed at the bare chest and arm muscles before him; he felt his mouth go dry.

The human then bent over to reach for his water container and without thinking, Nagisa tried to lean out further to have a better look. He lingered for a moment before his hand suddenly slipped and he crashed into the water with a loud splash and a shout of surprise.

Before he could resurface, he felt Makoto’s hand pull him back toward the boulder, his body was completely rigid.

“Makoto? You okay?”

“Shhhhh!” Makoto hushed Nagisa.

“Is someone there?!”

Nagisa froze as he heard the sound of the human’s voice calling out. Had he heard Nagisa’s shout? Nagisa slowly sidled along the boulder to take a quick look out and he saw that the boy was sitting in the sand and taking off his feet protectors. Once he did that, he started walking toward the water and stepped in, making his way toward the boulder.

Nagisa held in a gasp and pressed his back firmly to the rock and just floated there, unable to move. Makoto, however, was able to sink down and start to swim away; he motioned for Nagisa to follow, but Nagisa just _couldn’t_ move. He heard the boy getting closer and closer, and his heart leapt into his throat and he felt himself tremble. He was shaking so much, yet he could not move; and he wouldn’t admit it to Makoto, but he kind of _wanted_ to be seen by the human, so his sudden loss of mobility didn’t bother him at the moment.

Makoto looked worried and started to swim back to get Nagisa himself, but Nagisa shook his head at him, indicating to not worry and to just stay put. The splashing in the water was closer than ever and Nagisa saw a hand grip the boulder out of the corner of his eye. This was it. He just needed to look around the rock and that would be it. Nagisa took a deep breath held it before the sound of another human shouting from the beach took him by surprise.

“Rei! What the hell are you doing? If Haru knew you were out there trying to swim by yourself, he’d have a fit!”

Nagisa heard some more water thrashing noises and the hand on the boulder slipped away. “I’m not a child, Seijuuro! I know how to wade in shallow water. And I wasn’t swimming! I just thought I heard something and decided to investigate.”

“Still, you could have ran into an undertow and that would have taken you under in seconds. Now get out of there before that happens and I have to explain to Haru and your brother how you managed to drown in 4 feet of water.”

“Tch, fine, fine. I’m getting out.”

“Anyway, are you done with your run? Your brother wanted to talk to you before we all set out tonight.”

“Yes, I’m finished. Tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Will do.”

Nagisa heard footsteps slowly fade away and he finally let out the breath he was holding the entire time. He took a few more breaths and noticed he was able to move. He looked around the boulder again to see his human putting his feet protectors and upper body clothing back on before he stood up to leave. He gazed out toward the direction of the boulder, sighed, and walked up back towards the castle.

Once he had gone, Nagisa leaned up against the boulder and smiled. So his name was _Rei_. He never thought he’d get to find out his name, and oh what a lovely name it was. It was girly, just like his and Makoto’s. Nagisa sighed and unconsciously brought his hand to his chest; it almost seemed like… _fate_.

Makoto rushed over to Nagisa and snapped him out of his daze. He scolded him for nearly getting seen by a human and not fleeing like he should have, but Nagisa didn’t really take it to heart; he knew Makoto was just worried about him. The sun had already rose and they exhausted themselves hurrying back home so Nagisa wouldn’t get in trouble.

He ended up being only a few minutes late, but with Makoto with him, Nagisa just said he ran into him on the way down to breakfast and lost track of time. Despite Makoto’s obvious guilty face and the fact that he was a terrible liar, Nagisa’s dad bought it and asked Makoto to join them for breakfast.

Nagisa bid Makoto goodbye once he left for the day’s lessons, but hell if Nagisa knew how he was going to concentrate at all. This human, Rei, had been within touching distance and he was almost _seen_ by him for crying out loud. That was something that most fishfolk would be terrified of, something his father would be furious about; but to Nagisa, it was something he kind of wished had happened.

Sure, he didn’t know how Rei would even react to him; he could have been violent or scared for all Nagisa knew. He doesn’t know this human at all, he doesn’t know much about his personality other than the few weeks of observation, but something inside him kept telling him that wouldn’t be the case. He felt like Rei would accept him, be intrigued by him even. It sounded stupid, he knew it did, but he couldn’t help but think that.

After his lessons were over for the day, he decided to visit his grotto because he felt like he’d been neglecting it for weeks. He ran into Makoto again on the way and Makoto happily joined him since he hadn’t been there in a while either. The two chatted idly about nothing in particular for a few hours until it started getting dark.

“We should be getting home.” Makoto yawned. “It’s getting late.”

“I guess. It was nice talking, though! I’ve missed you!” He gave Makoto a squeeze. “Sometimes I wish you were in lessons with me so I could have some company and wouldn’t have to suffer alone!”

Makoto giggled. “Now that’s not very nice, Nagisa.”

Nagisa smiled up at Makoto innocently before a rush of fish swam by them without warning, causing Makoto to jump back in surprise.             

Nagisa cocked his head to the side. “Huh, how weird. That didn’t look like normal behavior to me.” He narrowed his eyes in the direction of the fish to try to and decipher their movements when he felt something hard smack into him. He got pushed off to the side as a few terrified merangel fish rushed passed him. “Ow, that hurt! What’s the big idea?!”

“It’s horrifying. There’s been loud booming sounds coming from the surface back that way!” Another merangel fish passing by answered before disappearing with the others.

“Loud booming sounds?” Nagisa looked to Makoto but he shrugged. “From the surface, huh?” Nagisa wondered to himself and his eyes lit up. “Let’s investigate!” Nagisa didn’t hesitate and started swimming upward towards the surface.

“Wait, Nagisa! We should really be getting…” he sighed. “Oh nevermind. You won’t listen anyway.” Makoto took a deep breath and followed him.

Nagisa breached in no time and was greeted with a breathtaking sight. There was a ship not too far from where he was and coming off of it were streams of whistling light suddenly exploding into beautiful colors in the air that illuminated the night sky. _Fireworks_. They had to be.

He heard Makoto breach next to him, but he didn’t take his eyes off the ship. He had just learned about fireworks from Rin the other week and the thought of actually seeing them seemed so far away; yet here he was, watching them being set off from a ship.

He felt himself being drawn closer to the ship and before he knew it, he was swimming quickly toward it. He heard Makoto’s shouting in the distance, but he didn’t care; he needed to be closer. The ship didn’t seem to be moving, so he caught up with it in no time.

Once he got close, he started to hear music and laugher, so he took a tight grip on the side of the ship and hoisted himself high enough to look through a porthole. Over fifty humans, who were most likely sailors, were spread all around the deck and having the grandest time. Some ate, some drank, and some even _danced_. They were _dancing_ and Nagisa needed to see, so he pressed himself as close to the porthole as he could possibly get.

Just as he got a good enough view, he saw that creature of Rei’s sniff around the porthole and start to yelp loudly at him. Nagisa gasped and pushed away from the hole to hide.

“Nagisa! What are you doing?!”

“Shhh, Makoto. Don’t want to be seen now do we?” Nagisa peered back into the hole to check if the coast was clear only to be met with a wet tongue on his cheek. The creature panted happily at him before he heard a semi-familiar voice call to her.

“Manami! Get away from there or you’ll fall off the side, you silly dog!”

The fluffy ‘dog’ turned away from Nagisa and ran toward the voice. Nagisa looked carefully and noticed the voice belonged to that relative of Rei’s. Nagisa’s eyes widened. If his relative was here, then that must mean that _he_ …

“Nagisa! Please, let’s go home. I don’t like all these loud booming noises!”

Nagisa ignored Makoto and scanned the deck quickly, but thoroughly; and there he was. Sitting in a chair reading and taking no interest in the festivities. Nagisa’s heart fluttered at the sight of him and thought about the chances of seeing him twice in one day and actually doing something that _wasn’t_ running. Nagisa was convinced now. It was fate.


	5. Chapter 4

* * *

 

 

A sailor with a mug in his hand stumbled over to Rei. “Rei, why are you reading?! Come have a drink with us!”

He pushed his glasses up. “No thank you.”

“Oh, come on! You can’t just sit there when there’s so much fun to be had!” he slurred.

“Not interested.”

“Fine, suit yourself.” He wobbled away to the human with the dog. “Jeez, your brother is such a bore.”

“Heh, tell me about it.” He laughed.

“So they _are_ related!” Nagisa uttered to himself.

“And here I never thought anyone could be as boring as ole Haruka here!” The drunk man clapped a dark-haired boy on the back, nearly causing him to tip over.

“Oi, that hurt.” Haruka grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder.

“Ah, he speaks!” Rei’s brother laughed and wrapped his arm around Haruka’s shoulder. “First time all day; I almost thought you were gonna make it last through tomorrow this time!”

“Stop being so loud.” Haruka shook the man’s arm off and strode over to the other side of the boat and stared at the water.

“Why’s he here anyway if he doesn’t like being social?” another sailor questioned.

“Ah, you don’t know?” Rei’s brother looked around and then back to the sailors. “Rei can’t swim. He’s never been able to and not even the best swimmers in the kingdom could teach him how. It was really odd, y’know? Our family has lived close to the ocean for generations and it was always a tradition of sorts, for the kids to learn how to swim at an early age. Rei’s probably the first one in the royal family line who can’t swim.”

Nagisa leaned in closer, grasping every word. So Rei was royalty too? Well, he should have figured as much with the castle he lived in, but it never crossed his mind. And he’s the only one in his family that can’t swim? That must be a horrible thing to have to deal with; almost like he didn’t fit in. Nagisa looked down sadly. He knew _that_ feeling.

“He was very persistent, though.” Rei’s brother continued. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of books he read. Can you imagine? A six-year-old reading piles upon piles of books! Books about the theory of swimming, swimming in sport, good diets for swimming, he even read up on swimming history. He found myths about some humans having been evolved from merpeople and such, ridiculous, I know, but he found comfort in them and thought that if humans once used to swim that it wouldn’t be impossible even for him.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way he had wanted it too. After all the reading and research, he still wasn’t able to swim. I told him that maybe he just wasn’t meant to swim and that we should stop trying. It wasn’t a big deal, really. But he was so distressed that he took a row boat out in a fit of hysterics and tried to prove to himself that he could swim. He nearly drowned that day, and if it hadn’t been for Haruka, he would have.”

“Haruka saved him?”

“Yes. He was out swimming in a prohibited area, an area that belonged to our estate—that little shit.” He laughed. “He saw Rei on the boat and really took no mind when he suddenly jumped from it. Haru always said he thought that behavior was normal since _he_ loved the water so much; why shouldn’t other people just jump from row boats to swim? But then Rei never came back up and Haru acted on instinct and saved the poor boy.

We were so grateful for what Haru did, and we later came to find he was orphaned, so we took him in. He has been Rei’s…well…protector, I suppose, ever since. He was rather lonely and only found comfort from swimming in the ocean, so he was thankful to have met Rei and they soon became great friends. Haru’s not really one to make friends so easily, so he made sure he was with Rei every time he went on a boat in case he needed saving again.”

“Brother, stop telling that story to people! It’s not beautiful!” Rei growled from behind his book, covering up a blush.

“Oho, so is that why you run on the beach all the time?” the drunk sailor from before chimed in. “Since you like the ocean but can’t swim so you run as close as you can get to it, ahaha! Sounds kinda like one of them awful love stories where you long for someone yet you can never be together!”

“That…that’s not—” Rei sputtered.

 “Oh, how hopeless! A tragedy it is!” He swooned lamely nearly spilling his drink all over himself.

_“Rei and the sea_

_It was destiny_

_But, oh, they can never be_!”

“Knock it off!” Rei cried out, but the sailor merely cleared his throat and continued.

“ _Rei and the sea_

_It was destiny_

_But, oh, they can never be!_

_What do you say_

_Let’s wait for the day_

_When our precious Rei_

_Can be with his mate_

_Before it’s too late_

_For it is his fate!_ ”

Nagisa’s heart skipped a beat for moment at the word, but his daze was broken once Rei had yelled again.

“I said stop it!”

“Oh, calm down. It was only a joke, yeesh.”

Rei’s brother stepped in and took the mug away from the man. “I think you may have had a little bit too much to drink, Goro.”

“Hey, you’re no fun! I said I was only joking! Get back here with that!” Goro followed Rei’s brother as he ran away with his drink. Rei huffed and ran over to Nagisa’s side of the ship to calm himself. Nagisa sunk close the wooden side of the ship’s wall as much as he could and didn’t move. He wouldn’t have minded Rei seeing him, but he felt uneasy with all these humans seeing him as well.

“Nagisa, what—” Makoto started, but Nagisa shushed him and pointed up to the side of the deck where Rei was leaning over and taking deep breaths. Makoto nodded and sank low enough into the water as to not be seen.

Nagisa couldn’t help but feel sorry for Rei. Here he had an entire family who held a tradition of swimming in the ocean, and he couldn’t do it.

“Hey, you all right?” Haruka’s voice came from above Nagisa, causing him to try and sink even further into the side of the boat.

Rei sighed. “I suppose. It happens all the time, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“They always treat it like it’s some sort of joke, they _have_ been for as long as I can remember. So why haven’t I gotten used to it by now?”

“Because you shouldn’t have to be.”

“It’s an embarrassment. I can’t even float for crying out loud; I just sink like a rock!” He slumped over. “The water must hate me.”

“The water doesn’t hate you, Rei. I’m sure you’ll get it someday.”

“Do you honestly believe that?”

“No.” Haruka deadpanned.

Rei laughed. “Always so blunt, you are.”

“I’m…not good at reassuring people.”

“I know, I know.”

There was a silence and the two simply gazed out at the water for some time. Nagisa was getting very uncomfortable in the position he was in, but he had to stay put. He was too intrigued with the conversation anyways; he was finally learning more about Rei. Not just the little things he could have discovered from observation, but something actually _about_ him. Something about his past that he was ashamed of. He felt kind of guilty eavesdropping like this, but he was just too excited to pass up the chance at learning something more. 

“Maybe…” Haruka finally broke the silence. “…there’s a reason you can’t swim.”

“I’ve thought about that before, actually.” Rei added. “Being the only one in my family after generations of swimming…it seems plausible enough. Though I’m not really sure of what that reason could be.”

“None of us really know until it happens, right?”

Rei smiled. “Right. I’m sure once it _does_ happen, I’ll know.”

A loud booming noise erupted from the sky and made Nagisa nearly fell from his spot. He thought for a moment that there were more fireworks being set off, but everything had went quiet on the ship and he glanced upward and the two above him had frozen in place.

“Was that thunder?” Haruka wondered.

“No, that’s impossible.” Rei began. “The weather was perfect today. There’s no way there could be—” The sound came again, but much louder this time and Nagisa jumped at the horrifying sound and flinched when he sudden felt drops of water crashing onto his head. Confused, he looked up to the sky and saw water falling from it. Was this _rain_? Nagisa held out his palms to catch the water.

“Wow, I get to see _rain_.” Nagisa breathed cheerfully to himself. He took this time while Rei and Haruka were distracted to slip back down into the water and swim to where he last saw Makoto.

“W-what’s this?!” Makoto looked around terrified. “What’s going on?!”

“It’s rain, Makoto! Water that comes from the sky.”

“How is that even possible?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s just a little water. It’s harmless, really.”

The rain then started to fall harder and the drops actually kind of hurt when they hit Nagisa’s head.

“Ow!” Makoto yelped. “Harmless, huh?”

“Well, I didn’t think it was gonna—” A sudden gush of wind smacked against Nagisa’s face and he got pushed quite a ways away from Makoto.

“Nagisa! Are you alright!” Makoto called.

“I’m fine!” Nagisa called back. He noticed the rain was falling ever harder and the wind was blowing it everywhere so it was hard to see Makoto, let alone hear his voice.

“Nagisa, I think maybe we should head back before it gets any worse.”

Nagisa looked back to the ship, and the sailors aboard were frantically running about and chattering loudly about needing to brace themselves for the storm and for Rei to get below deck. They seemed to know what they were doing so Nagisa looked away and back to what he could see of Makoto. “Okay! My dad’s probably wondering where—”

A blinding light flashed from behind Nagisa and the noise was deafening. He had dived under out of fear before he could figure out what it was, and it was a good thing he did too, because pieces of wood and debris had hit the surface and started sinking around him.

“What in the world…” Makoto started before Nagisa swam up to have a look.

Fire always seemed like it was so vibrant, warm, and full of life. It was something that Nagisa wanted to see ever since he started his collection; but not like this. The ship was aflame and the sailors were now panicked, trying and failing to stop it from spreading.

“Nagisa would you stop disappear…goodness! What’s—Nagisa, this is dangerous! We need to leave now!” Makoto tugged on Nagisa’s arm, but he wouldn’t budge. He was too glued to the sight that he couldn’t look away. The men were screaming and terrified; the ship was sinking. “Nagisa, come on!” Makoto pleaded. “We have to get out of here!”

 

* * *

 

 

“It’s a lost cause, your highness! We need to get to the life boats before this thing goes under!”

“Yes, get everyone to the life boats _now_! You! Make sure Manami is safe!”

“You two, stop trying to put out that fire! The ship is sinking! We need to get off!”

“Aaarrg, my leg! I think it’s broken!”

All the voices were blending together, and Haruka tried to ignore them and tried not to panic as he made labored tugs at the planks that had fallen on the door to the deck below.

“Haruka hurry! The water it’s—it’s rising!” Rei cried through the door.

“I know I know! I’m trying!” He tugged and pushed and pulled, but his efforts were unsuccessful. The damn things just wouldn’t budge. “I…I can’t do it…help. HELP! Please, someone!”

Rei’s brother ran over in a panic. “Haru, what’s going on?!”

“I can’t move them, they’re too heavy. Rei…he’s still below deck! The water’s rising!”

“Together! We need to move them together now! Ready, and, HEAVE!” The two boys had to shove a few times before the planks even moved just a little bit, but they couldn’t give up.

“This isn’t going to work. We need more people!”

“Right. Goro! Get over here, we need your help!”

Goro was over in mere seconds and didn’t even give a second thought before he started trying to shove the planks off. The other two joined in right away. They struggled, but it was working. Slowly, but it was working. Water started to spill over the deck and made it harder for them to move, but they tried to stay calm.

“The water, it’s nearly to my neck!” Rei screamed from below.

“Don’t worry, Rei! We’ll get you out! We will!” his brother assured.

“Your highness! Haruka! Goro! We need to leave!”

“Go on without us, we’ll catch up!” Goro screamed through the wind.

“But, the fire…”                                            

“Just go!”

The water was rising, the boys kept slipping, and the fire was spreading all around them. Just when everything seemed hopeless, the planks finally moved.

“The water it’s com—” Rei sputtered and his voice disappeared. Haruka pulled open the door and reached for Rei’s hand to pull him out.

“You took…” Rei coughed. “…your time.”

“We got you out didn’t we?” Haruka said coolly, but with a hint of relief in his voice.

“Stop jabbering, you two! We need to get off the ship now!” Rei’s brother yelled. The rest nodded and had difficulty avoiding the growing flames. Once they managed to get to the side of the deck, Rei’s brother and Goro dived into the water to join the life boats.

“Okay, Rei. Just hold onto me and I’ll swim you to the boats, okay?” Haruka said.

Rei gulped and nodded and they both took a step forward, ready to dive. An ear-piercing boom erupted, the heat from the fire grew in intensity, and they both were sent flying into the air before they could comprehend what had happened.

They hit the water hard and the sounds were muffled from the rain, and the ringing in Haruka’s ears was horrid. He heard the others screaming for them, but it he couldn’t pin point the direction they were coming from. He felt faint, but he needed to stay alert; what happened to Rei?

He looked around and started to panic when he saw no sight of Rei anywhere. He tried to calm himself and took a deep breath before diving below the water to look for him. The light from the fire helped as he swam around frantically, scanning every possible direction. He came up for air a few times, but kept returning under; this was bad. If _he_ needed to come up for air, then Rei _definitely_ needed to.

He had no idea how long it had been, how long had Rei been under? How much longer would it take for him to…no, he needed to find him. He shook his head and continued his frantic search.

After about the fourth time back under, he spotted a weird yellow glimmer some ways away from him; and he honestly thought he saw Rei for a split second, but he was moving away far too fast. Haruka kicked his feet as hard as he could in the same direction, but his attempt was in vain; his eyes must have been playing tricks on him.

His lungs started to burn and he realized he had been under far too long, so he weakly kicked up and surfaced. It wasn’t long before one of the life boats found him and dragged him aboard.

“Haruka, thank god!” Goro said patting him on the back. “I nearly had a heart attack when the ship exploded. I’m sure Rei’s brother was worried too, but he got onto a different boat.” Haru remained quiet and didn’t look at Goro’s face. “Where’s Rei?”

Guilt shot through Haru’s body and he felt he was going to burst into hysterics if he opened his mouth; but he somehow managed to utter out a two small broken words. “I…failed.”

“What was that?” Goro asked.

“I failed I…I was supposed to protect him and…he…I lost him I…” Haru slumped over and placed his head in his hands to try and prevent himself from shaking uncontrollably.

“Wait… _what_?!” The sailor sitting next to Goro suddenly gripped Haru’s shoulders. “Are you saying that Prince Rei is _dead_?! How could you lose him like that?!” He tightened his grip and shook Haru back and forth roughly. “He was your responsibility! His brother is going to kill you when he—”

“Hachirou!” Goro rose his voice. “That is quite enough. Can’t you see Haruka’s upset as it is?” The man released Haru and slowly slunk back to the place he was sitting, guiltily averting his gaze. Goro wrapped an arm around Haru’s shoulder to comfort him and no one said another word, and for that he was thankful. He couldn’t deal with these men’s judgmental comments at the moment.

 

* * *

 

 

“This was a bad idea! Why didn’t we just go home?!”

“I couldn’t just let him _drown_ , Makoto!”

“Well, you’ve saved him and he’s safe, so can we go home now? The other humans will probably catch up soon, it won’t be safe here!”

“Give me a minute, I need to make sure he’s okay.”

Nagisa hadn’t given a second thought when the two humans were thrown into the water from the explosion; he went after them immediately. He found Rei right away, passed out, and he used all his strength to keep his head above the water. He didn’t know where the other human was, and he would have had Makoto carry him if they found him, but they needed to get out of there because the debris from the explosion was flying everywhere and the fire wasn’t helping at all.

It didn’t take much time before they reached the shore and Nagisa and Makoto pushed Rei onto the sand, though Makoto had fled back into the water because he felt uncomfortable out of it. Nagisa was sprawled onto the sand and shimmied as close as he could to Rei, which was more difficult than it looked.

“Well, is he okay?!”

“I don’t know yet!” Nagisa put his ear near Rei’s mouth and didn’t hear anything. “I don’t think he’s breathing…Makoto he’s not breathing, what do I do?!”

“How should I know?! I thought _you_ were the expert on human stuff!”

Nagisa groaned and looked back to Rei; his head was racing. What caused a human to drown? How could he fix it? _Could_ he fix it? Didn’t they have to put pressure somewhere? Nagisa’s hands hovered over different places on Rei’s body, trying to figure out where he should put them.

“Nagisaaa!”

“Just go home already if you’re that worried about the other humans! I’m trying to think!”

“Oh no, I’m not leaving you here alone! Not with the other humans so close.”

“Then be quiet, will you?!” Nagisa felt bad for snapping at him, but he was a little stressed out at the moment. Before he turned back to Rei, he felt something shift beneath him and suddenly Rei was coughing harshly. Nagisa hadn’t realized he was leaning on Rei’s chest…had _that_ done it?

Rei’s coughing stopped and he was breathing again; he groaned softly, but he never opened his eyes. His breaths became even and full as he laid there very still.

“He’s okay, Makoto! He’s breathing again!”

“Thank goodness.” He sounded relieved. “Can we please go now?”

“Yeah…” Nagisa turned back to Rei once again. “…just give me a second…” He gazed at Rei’s face in wonder, it was the first time he had ever seen him so close. He was able to see every freckle, every eyelash, even the faint lines that had formed up near his eyebrows; he saw barely any by the corners of his mouth, which confirmed Nagisa’s assumption that he really didn’t smile a lot.

 He then took a look at Rei’s hair, it was so shiny and looked really soft, even though it was soaked. He pouted at his own rat of thick curls and felt a little envious, but that was to be expected from living in salt water his entire life. The color of Rei’s hair was such a pretty blue, a type of blue he’d never seen many merfolk have, and Nagisa was completely captivated. Rei was absolutely—

“…beautiful.”

Nagisa gasped. The word he was just about to say was said in a different person’s voice. He looked at Rei’s face again and noticed that his eyes were half open and looking straight at him. _When had he…?_

“Are you…an angel?” Rei mumbled to Nagisa, clearly exhausted.

“Nagisa! We need to get out of here now! I see a boat, come on!” 

He took one last look at Rei before pulling himself back into the water as quickly as he could and hurrying to the hide behind his boulder.

“W…wait!” Rei called out as he sat up, but he looked really weak and had to catch himself from falling over. He looked around wearily. “Where did he…?”

“Nagisa, come on!” Makoto whispered, pulling at his arm. “The other humans are almost there now, he’s fine. We can go.”

Nagisa ignored him and merely peeked out from behind the boulder just enough to see what was happening and not be noticed by the others.

“Rei! Oh, Rei! Thank god!” Rei’s brother jumped from the life boat and splashed through the water until he was at the shore. Manami was the first to reach him, though, and she pounced on him and licked his face, wagging her tail happily.

His brother then pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “Dear god, I thought you were dead! When I found out you weren’t with Haruka I…I’m just glad you’re okay!”

“Brother…please…air…” Rei choked out before his brother apologized and loosened his grip.

“I’d thought I’d lost you, Rei.”

“Rei’s…okay?” Nagisa looked to the side and saw a second life boat, the voice belonged to that Haruka boy from before. Nagisa was glad to see he survived. Haru stepped off the boat once it reached the shore and he hugged Rei awkwardly. “I’m so sorry, Rei, I…the explosion, and I lost you, and I just…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Haruka. I’m alive all the same, aren’t I?”

Haruka took a breath of relief. “Yes…”

“Speaking of which, how _are_ you alive?” his brother asked.

“I’m…not sure. I think someone saved me. I woke up to the most… _beautiful_ person. I remember pink and yellow…a bright face…I thought it was an angel.” Nagisa’s eyes sparkled at the words.

Goro snorted. “That sounds a little…”

“It’s not crazy! I know what I saw!” Rei defended.

“Well, then where is this person, Rei?” Goro accused.

“I don’t know...he was gone once I sat up and then you arrived with the life boats.”

“Maybe we scared him away.” Haru added.

“Well, whoever he is,” Rei’s brother started. “I definitely have his thanks.” He wrapped his arm around Rei’s shoulder. “Come, we need to get you to a warm bed. You’ve had one hell of a night.”

Rei and the rest slowly treaded through the sand and back up to the castle, and Makoto let out a giant breath of relief.

“Nagisa…can we _please_ go now?”

Nagisa barely heard him. He felt like his heart was about to burst. His face felt hot and his hand rested on his chest as if trying to prevent that from happening. “He…called me beautiful.” He uttered.

“What?”

“He called me _beautiful_ , Makoto!” Nagisa nearly leaped out of the water in excitement. “He thought I was an angel! The most beautiful person he’s ever seen!” Nagisa dove under the water and spun around, feeling completely giddy and like he could just spring out of the water and fly away. He was _beautiful._

The lessons the next day went by quick, and Nagisa was a little ashamed to admit that it was because he had paid no attention at all; but how could he? His mind kept wondering off to images of Rei and their encounter and he was staring with half-lidded eyes and sighing contentedly the entire time. Miho knew something was up and felt like she couldn’t get him to grasp what she was trying to teach him, so she let him go early for the day.

Nagisa didn’t complain, so he thought he’d go see Makoto to hang out again. Lucky for him, he met Makoto on his way out of the study and agreed to meet him at the grotto once Nagisa went to get something from his room really quick.

Humming a lovely, romantic tune on the way, he passed by his dad’s throne room but stopped abruptly when he heard his name being said by his oldest sister. Curious, he pressed his ear against the door to listen.

“I just don’t understand, Father. Princess Emi is perfectly fit to reign by herself, isn’t she? Why would she need to marry Nagisa?”

“Their monarchy is different from ours, sweetheart. Our laws say that if a princess is a first born and fit to reign, she can reign as Queen with or without being married to a King. But their laws say that if the first born is a girl, and if she has no brothers, she needs to marry a Prince to reign; even if that Prince is from another Kingdom. Princess Emi only has younger sisters, and her father has grown deathly ill and they’re expecting his passing very soon. Queen Kimiko does not wish to re-marry after his passing because she think it’d be an insult to his memory. But that would mean she’d have to step down from the throne.”

“But why does it have to be Nagisa? There’s plenty of other princes that Emi could marry, I’m sure.”

“This is something I hate to admit, but…our home is not what it used to be. Being so close to land and those despicable humans has devastated these waters. Food supply is becoming low, more and more fishfolk are getting a sickness that my magic can’t even cure. Making this arrangement with their kingdom will help us significantly and they’d be able to give us support through these trying times. And Queen Kimiko and Princess Emi _did_ seem to take a liking to Nagisa, despite his…odd behavior.”

“Nagisa barely becomes of marrying age and you’re already marrying him off to an unknown, far away kingdom! What does he even know about reigning anyway?”

“What do you think those lessons of his were for? And he can be properly taught again by _their_ teachers once he gets there; their laws are quite different from ours, after all”

Nagisa could not believe what he was hearing; he had no idea this was even being planned. Anger rushing through him, he burst through the doors. “So _that’s_ why you planned that dinner?! Why you still went through with my birthday party even though I was in heaps of trouble?! So you could just _marry_ me off in secret?!”

The king jumped. “Nagisa?!”

“I heard it all! And I’m so—I’m so _angry_.”

“Nagisa, you must understand—”

“No! This is kind of a big issue here and you never even told me about it. What were you planning to do? Have me hauled away in the middle of the night when I was still asleep so I could just wake up in another kingdom and not know how I got there?!”

“No, Nagisa. I _was_ going to tell you. I just—”

“When? Today? Next week? The day you were gonna send me away? When _were_ you gonna send me away?”

“Nagisa, please listen. We had a lot of planning to do first and we didn’t have time to—”

 Nagisa scoffed. “Oh, you didn’t have _time_ to tell me I was being forced to marry someone I just met. Someone from an entirely different kingdom!”

“Nagisa! You are not understanding the seriousness of this!” the King raised his voice. “We are doing this to better our kingdom!”

“Yes, I understand that, _Father_! And I probably wouldn’t have taken this so harshly if you would have at least mentioned something to me!” His father opened his mouth to retort, but closed it again. Nagisa then turned to his sister. “And _you_. You knew about this the entire time and you never said anything?”

She jumped at Nagisa’s fuming expression; it was a rarity he ever got this angry. She reached out to touch his shoulder in a comforting motion. “Nagisa, I didn’t mean—”

“No, don’t touch me.” He slapped her hand away and felt tears start to well up. “I hate you both!”

He was in full tears now and didn’t look back as he hurried out of the throne room and headed toward the grotto. He was thankful that the rock that acted as a door was pushed out the way already so he could just swim right in without having to worry about trying to move it himself. Makoto was in there waiting for him and his smile faded once he saw Nagisa’s teary face. Nagisa rushed over to hug him and sobbed about what he just heard.

“How could he do that, Makoto?! I never thought Dad would be one to force any of us into a marriage we didn’t want let alone not even tell us about it. I’m the youngest too! I just barely became of age and he’s already rushing me into this. I always thought that my sisters would go off and have kids before I was even _married_. I’ve never even thought about marriage before! I’ve never even been in a relationship with someone before! And here he’s making me marry someone I’ve met once. I mean, she seemed nice and all but, I just…I’m…” He looked away.

“In love with someone else?” Makoto nudged him.

“I’m not _in love_ with him, okay. How could I be? I barely know him. I just…he’s the first person I’ve ever really felt anything for. Well, except maybe that little mergirl when I was 7, but that doesn’t count.”

Makoto smirked. “I _knew_ you had a crush on him.”  

Nagisa gave a small smile. “Shut up.” He almost felt a little better, but he was still upset. “I have to see him again, Makoto. I can’t let last night be the last time. And…I’m gonna let him see me.”

“Nagisa, that’s—”

“Dangerous, yeah, I know. But if it’s going to be the last time I get to see him, I want it to mean something. Even if I never see him again, I want him to know I exist and that I saved him!”

“Nagisa, letting a human see you…”

“He’s not just any human, Makoto. And I need to see him.”

“Nagisa…”

“I’m going back to the surface today and you can’t stop me!”

“Nagisa! Your dad—”

“I don’t care about what my dad will say, he probably won’t find out like usual anyways. And why are you bringing him up now? Why would I care at all about his stupid rules right now after what he’s done?!”

“No, Nagisa!” Makoto grabbed Nagisa’s shoulders and turned him around. “Your dad is _here_.”

The King was floating at the entrance to the grotto, the light that hit his face made his angered expression more dramatic.

“Dad?! You…followed me?!”

The King swam fully inside the small cave and looked so angry that his face was turning red. “You went up to the _surface_?!”

“I…well, yeah, but—”

“And you were actually willing to let a human see you?! That is a very careless and dangerous thing to do, young man!”

“But, Dad, I—”

“He could have hurt you, Nagisa! Caught you and locked you up!”

“He wouldn’t have done that! He’s not like that, Dad!”

“You don’t know that for sure, Nagisa! I just don’t understand how you can be so fascinated by all this nonsense after what happened to your mother!”

“What happened to Mom was the cause of pirates, Dad! They were bad humans and not all humans are bad! Just like down here. Not all fishfolk are good, but not all are bad either! Mom wouldn’t have wanted you to cut all of us off from learning about them. She wouldn’t have wanted you to be so bitter about her death.”

The King’s face scrunched up in fury. “You watch your tongue! Your mother was killed by _humans_ because of what she was. Because of stupid myths _they_ fabricated that couldn’t have been farther from the truth of our actual culture!” He took a deep breath to try to calm himself, but it didn’t work very well. “I felt really guilty, Nagisa, about what I had done. I knew it was wrong to arrange this marriage without taking your feelings into account and without your knowledge. And seeing you earlier made me want to just reconsider this entire thing. But then I come to find out that you have been going to the surface and seeing humans behind my back and being such a disobedient _child_ ; so maybe this change of scenery may actually be good for you and teach you to _grow up_ and stop being so naïve about what humans are actually capable of.”

“Dad…” Nagisa was in tears again. His father couldn’t be serious.

“And you, Makoto.” The King turned to face him. “I appointed you as Nagisa’s guard because you are his very close friend and because your family has been friends with the royal family for generations. I realize now that that was a horrible mistake. A proper guard would have made sure Nagisa didn’t make any stupid decisions that would have gotten him hurt. So once Nagisa leaves, you will _not_ be going with him. Your services are no longer required.”

Nagisa’s heart nearly broke at the look on Makoto’s face; he looked wounded. If he wasn’t smiling, it was just because he was scared or in protective mode, but Nagisa doesn’t remember the last time he saw Makoto so sad and broken before. This made Nagisa extremely upset.

“Don’t blame Makoto!” Nagisa screamed. “It was all my fault! I never listen to him no matter how hard he tries to stop me!”

“Then maybe that means you need a guard who _will_ stop you even if you disobey them.” The King turned his head to the entrance slightly and called out. “Hyosuke!”

The merorca castle guard Nagisa knew so well swam into the cave with a slightly disheartened expression. “Escort Nagisa back to his room and make sure he stays there. I want a guard by his door and window until tomorrow. He will be leaving for the Northern Kingdom in the morning.” He turned back to Nagisa. “I’ll let you say goodbye to Makoto then.”

“Dad, please!” Nagisa begged. “Don’t do this.”

The King turned away without another word and let Hyosuke take Nagisa’s arm and lead him out of the grotto and back up to the castle. He saw his sisters in the entry way and was surprised to see them look upset instead of being delighted in the fact he got into trouble again. His oldest sister looked the most troubled and even gave him a hug before he was forced to his room and locked inside.

He buried his face in his hands as he sank to the floor and cried even harder than before. _Look at what you got yourself into, Nagisa._


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for this chapter: Body horror/pain during Nagisa's transformation. It's not extreme or anything, I just want to be sure.

Nagisa finally got up from his position on the floor after at least thirty minutes of crying and yelling at himself for being so stupid. He took a quick glance out of his shell-curtained window, and it had turned out his father wasn’t joking about keeping him locked up this time. There were two guards on watch right outside and they’d be sure to spot Nagisa if he tried to leave from the window.

He checked the door as well, but it was, to no surprise, locked; there were probably even guards outside of his room as well. Nagisa sat on his bed and tugged at his own hair out of frustration and felt the tears welling up for the millionth time that day. He was really going to be sent to the Northern Kingdom after all.

He decided to let the tears slip out again and admitted defeat. He may as well sleep, he thought, since there was nothing else he could do anymore. Nagisa settled into his bed and his eyes started to close; he could only hope that when he woke up, it was all just a horrible dream and he hadn’t overheard anything about the arranged marriage and that it wasn’t real.

He dozed for at least ten minutes before realization hit him and he shot right up from his bed. How could he have forgotten about his secret passage?! He sped to the hidden trap door next to his bed, yanked it open, and nearly had a heart attack when Makoto popped out of it in that same moment.

“Makoto?! Jeez, you nearly scared me to death.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Makoto raised his hands to his chest in an apologetic motion. “It’s been nearly an hour, so I was surprised you didn’t come to find me and tell me your plans for swimming away or something. I almost thought that the master escape artist had forgotten about his secret passage.”

Nagisa let out a breathy laugh. “I almost did, actually. And I—wait _swimming away_?! What a brilliant idea, Makoto! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!”

“No, Nagisa! I wasn’t implying that—I was just—”

 Nagisa retrieved his bag and started filling it with a few items he had laying around the room. “Then I don’t have to be forced to leave and then I could go see Rei as much as I want and then I could—”

“Nagisa…swimming away from your problems isn’t really the best way to solve them.”

“Then what do you suggest I do, Makoto? You saw how furious Dad was, there’s no way he’d listen if I tried reasoning with him; and I can’t just give in and get married against my will. I’d rather swim away from this than have to give up and be miserable for the rest of my life.”

After a pause, Makoto gave Nagisa a nod of understanding. “You’re right. Maybe after you’ve been gone a while, it’ll force your dad to understand…or make things worse, but I guess there really isn’t any way things could get worse than they are now.”

Nagisa flung his full bag over his shoulder. “Thank you, Makoto.”

“But you’re not going alone, okay? I may not be your guard anymore, but I’m still your friend. And friends stick with each other through the tough times, right?”

“Makoto…” Nagisa’s eyes grew misty again and he threw himself at Makoto and squeezed his arms around him in the tightest hug he had ever given anyone. “You are truly the bestest best friend ever and I don’t deserve to have you waaa!”

“Shhhhh, Nagisa. Don’t want the entire palace to hear, do you?”

“Ah,” Nagisa instantly lowered his voice to a whisper. “Sorry.” Makoto merely smiled and patted Nagisa’s head. “Okay, so I have everything I need, what about you? Oh no, what about your parents? Ran and Ren? Won’t they be worried if you suddenly leave?”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’ll know I’m with you once they find out you’re gone.”

Nagisa nodded and they both slipped into the trap door and through the passage. Sneaking past the guards outside was a little more difficult than usual, but that was to be expected with the extra security his dad put outside for him. Once they were past the guards, Nagisa didn’t even bother to look back as they swam away.

“Oh, right!” Nagisa said suddenly once they were about five minutes out. “There’s something I wanted to get from the grotto first!”

Makoto’s eyes shot open wide. “Oh, no... Wait, Nagisa!” Nagisa turned around fast and swam in the other direction before Makoto could stop him.

Nagisa hurried to the grotto, not having heard Makoto’s plea, and not expecting anything unordinary. He stopped dead once he turned the corner and saw it. The rock that acted as a door was still pushed off to the side and a few miscellaneous items from inside were scattered and broken on the sea floor next to the entrance.

He bolted inside and let out a small sob at the horrible sight. Everything was destroyed. Years and years of finding and collecting, and it had all been ruined in a mere hour. He dropped his bag and felt himself sink to the ground. He couldn’t even keep track of how many times he had cried that day.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t have to see this.” Makoto had finally caught up and floated in place behind Nagisa.

“You… _knew_ about this?”

“After Hyosuke took you away, your dad snapped and used his scepter to destroy everything in here. He was so angry, I thought he was going to rush at me and pull the glasses off of my face. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I just…I knew it’d upset you and I didn’t think we’d be stopping by here. I’m so sorry.”

Nagisa sniffed and wiped his eyes on his arm. “S’okay…”

“Ah, I did manage to salvage this, though.” Makoto swam inside and moved a few rocks out of the way to retrieve something behind them. “I hid it so it wouldn’t get stolen.” He placed it carefully into Nagisa’s hand.

Nagisa slowly moved his gaze to the item in his hand; it was that butterfly brooch he had Rin identify not too long ago. He clenched his fist around it and held it to his chest. “Thank you, Makoto.” He collected his bag from its spot on the ground next to him and softly stuffed the brooch inside; he took a deep breath and got up. “We should probably get going if we want to get out of here before they find out I’m gone. Or else they’ll catch up to us.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

The two boys didn’t dawdle and left the place; this time Nagisa _did_ look back, but he wished he hadn’t because the sight was too upsetting and he had a difficult time keeping himself from crying again.

It had gotten better once they were swimming for a while, however, and Nagisa decided to drag Makoto to the surface to see Rei. Unfortunately, they had waited almost an hour and no one came outside. Nagisa never came to see Rei in the afternoon before, so that must mean he only ran in the mornings. They decided to leave for the day and perhaps come back in the morning, but after another 20 minutes of swimming, they really had no clue where to go.

“Gah, I’m so sorry, Makoto! I didn’t think this through. I didn’t even think about where we would swim off to and it’s only been a few hours! We are the worst swimaways ever!” He dramatically swung his arms up to his head.

“No, it’s not entirely your fault. I was just as hasty as you were.” Nagisa looked at him as if to sarcastically say ‘thanks, that makes me feel loads better’.

Nagisa gasped suddenly. “Wait, I have an idea! Why don’t we go to Shipwreck Rock?! I can convince Rin to let us stay with him; oh it’d be so perfect!”

Makoto looked really uneasy. “I…ah, I don’t know, Nagisa. I mean…I don’t think Rin really liked me anyway, so I doubt he’d let me stay.”

Nagisa pouted. “Aww, come on, Makoto! I can convince him easy! I think he warmed up to me in those days I kept going over. I’m sure Ai would be on our side too!”

“Please, Nagisa. I just…I wanna stay away from that place, okay? It really gives me the creeps.”

Nagisa pouted again. “Okay, fine. But if we get lost looking for a place to stay for the night, I’m blaming you.”

“Why, hello there!”

The two boys nearly jumped out of their skin when a voice materialized from behind them. Makoto was most startled to see that the voice belonged to young mershark girl about their age. She seemed harmless, despite Makoto’s uneasiness, but she had a strange aura about her that Nagisa couldn’t put his finger on.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” She apologized kindly. “You two just looked like you were lost, so I thought maybe I could help.”

“W-well, I guess we’re lost in a sense…” Makoto said nervously. “But we’re really just looking for a place to stay.”

“Oh no, did something happen to your home?” She asked sympathetically.

“No, no.” Nagisa started. “We were actually um…we’re swimming away from home…”

Her face saddened even more. “That’s awful! Did they treat you bad at home?”

Nagisa glanced away. “Something like that…”

 “I’m sorry to hear that. Oh, I’m Kou, by the way!” She held out her hand for a shake and Nagisa took it.

“I’m Nagisa, and this is my friend Makoto.”

“Nice to meet you. I really wish I could help, but the place I’m at is really small and I don’t think we’d all fit very comfortably.”

“Well, thanks for the thought.” Makoto finally said, seeming calmer. “I suppose we should probably be on our way, though, before it gets dark.”

“Oh, alright. It was nice chatting with you!” She did a graceful spin and turned to swim away at an oddly slow pace, keeping herself in earshot of the two boys. Nagisa took note of the light blue shells she wore to hold her hair up.

“Did she seem familiar to you?” Nagisa asked Makoto.

“I don’t think so? I’m not really one to know many mersharks.”

“She seemed to be in some sort of _trance_ or something. The way she’s swimming away seems odd.”

“Don’t talk ill about her, Nagisa. She’s still close enough to hear. Why don’t we get going?”

“Yeah, okay.” Nagisa sighed. “You know, it’d be so much easier if I could just grow a pair of legs and walk right onto the beach. How awesome would it be to swimaway and live on the surface?!”

As if on cue, Kou turned back around to catch up with them. “I think I can help you with that, actually!”

“Help with what?”

She smiled. “Getting you a pair of legs.”

Nagisa cocked a brow. “No way.”

“Yes way.” Kou imitated Nagisa’s tone. “The lady I live with knows magic and she does deals all the time! I’ve seen her turn merfolk into humans before, so she can probably help you.”

Nagisa looked to Makoto in disbelief and then back to Kou. “Are you serious?”

She nodded simply. “Mmmhmm.”

Nagisa’s eyes lit up and for what seemed like the first time that day, he was genuinely happy. “If…if I could be human…that would be a dream come true for me!” He gripped Makoto’s arm in excitement.

“Now, Nagisa...let’s not make any more hasty decisions. Besides, if _you_ got legs and went up to the surface, where would _I_ go?”

“You could get legs too, Makoto!”

“No, no, no. I couldn’t possibly. Human stuff is _your_ thing; I don’t think I’d like being human at all.” Nagisa’s face formed into the cutest pout imaginable and Makoto sighed and gave in. “But I suppose since we really don’t have anywhere else to go, we could check it out…”

Nagisa’s laughed and pulled Makoto into a hug. “Thank you thank you thank you!”

“Wonderful!” Kou chimed. “Follow me then!”

It took them a little bit longer than Nagisa was expecting, so Kou must have liked to wonder off and explore away from home as well. They reached a trench and Kou fearlessly dived down into it; Nagisa loved to explore, sure, but he never went to those extremes. The farther down you swam, the more dangerous it was.

Kou popped back up. “Well, come on! It’s this way.”

“Down the trench?” Nagisa asked.

 “You live down _there_?!” Makoto squawked. “I knew this was a bad idea, Nagisa. Let’s just go ba—”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not that far down. She lives in a cave on the side of the trench. It’ll only take a few more minutes to get there.”

“Well, if it’ll only take a few minutes…” Nagisa was unsure, but he nodded and followed Kou. “Come on, Makoto.” Makoto was trembling and he shook his head. “You know I can’t go down here alone. I might get hurt.”

Makoto furrowed his brows, took a deep breath, and proceeded to follow the two down the very scary trench. Makoto stayed as close to Nagisa as possible and tried to keep himself from shaking too much. Nagisa was glad Makoto came with them, because he even felt _himself_ start to shake ever so slightly as the water started getting colder the farther down they went. Sometimes he forgot he wasn’t as fearless as he liked to think.

Thankfully, what Kou said about it only taking a few minutes to arrive was true; but…where _had_ they arrived to? Kou said there was a cave, but it didn’t look like anything was around. Before Nagisa could ask, Kou stuck her hand inside a hole on the side of the trench and uttered some sort of incantation; two eels slipped out the other holes in the wall and started speaking in unison.

“Hello, Kou dear. Back so soon? Ooh, you’ve brought guests!” They smirked at each other. “Mistress will be quite pleased.” They swam back through the holes and a hidden door opened up; Kou motioned for them to follow.

Nagisa knew immediately upon entering that he did _not_ like this place. It was the creepiest place he had ever been too, and that was saying something because he’d been to a lot of creepy places. This was probably the first place that legitimately creeped him out, so he couldn’t imagine how Makoto was feeling. He glanced over his shoulder to see how Makoto was doing when he felt something weird and slimy wrap around his arm and try to pull him back.

He shouted in surprise and tried to tug away at this odd plant that had suddenly grabbed him. Makoto rushed to help, but Nagisa was only freed when Kou noticed and slapped at the plant to let go.

“Sorry about those, they get a little clingy sometimes. Just slap them at the base and they’ll let go.”

Nagisa nodded and decided to keep as close to the center as possible as they made their way down the long tunnel. A few more minutes, and they reached a small room where Kou swam first to announce them.

“Mistress Sumi! I’ve brought someone who says he needs your help!”

“Oh? Well, let them in, sweetheart.” Kou nodded and okayed the two boys to come in. Nagisa looked up as he entered and noticed this ‘mistress’ was quite an old octopus and honestly very scary looking; though Nagisa wouldn’t say that out loud.

“Well, hello there, young man. My name is Sumi. And what might your name be?”

“I’m Nagisa.” He then pointed back to Makoto. “And this is Mako—”

Her eyes suddenly lit up. “ _Nagisa_?! As in the _Prince_?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She quickly sat up from her clam shell chair. “It is an honor to have royalty in my humble home!” She bowed slightly.

“Please, you don’t need to do that.”

“So modest you are, and so polite too.” She straightened up. “What can I do for his highness today?”

“Kou told me that you can turn merpeople into humans.”

“Oh yes, that I can. I am reasonably skilled in that sort of magic. But why have you come to me? Your father possesses much more powerful magic than I could ever imagine, I’m sure.”

“I could never ask him that. My father hates humans.”

“Ah, I see.” She leaned lazily on her vanity and tapped her very long finger nails against the surface. “May I ask why you’d like to be a human?”

Nagisa brightened up a bit. “Well, I’ve been fascinated by them ever since I was little! I’ve been collecting human artifacts for years and had quite the collection before…before my dad destroyed it.” Nagisa slumped a bit at the thought of his grotto, but he brushed it off and continued. “I’ve always wanted to go up to the surface and be able to venture out beyond the beach and explore! I want to dance and eat and ask questions and learn!” Nagisa’s excitement calmed a bit and he looked away, blushing. “And there’s also…this human that I would very much love to meet.”

Sumi started to look extremely interested. “Oh? Go on.”

“After observing him for a few weeks, I saved him from drowning in a storm last night. He saw me…it was just for a split second, but he called me beautiful. It wasn’t exactly a meeting, since I hid before he could see me fully, but…if I could meet him _for real_ …” He put his hand to his chest. “That would be the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me.”

Nagisa looked up and saw the octopus was wearing a very sinister smile, but that melted away in a millisecond once she noticed Nagisa looking at her. She changed her expression to a very gentle one.

“Oh, I am such a sap for young love like this! I would definitely love to help you!”

“You…would?!”

“I would.” She held out her index finger. “Give me a moment, please.” She waved her eels over to her and started whispering to them. “What do you think, my lovelies? Yes, I know. It’s simply perfect, and that could work splendidly. Of course, I think he’d need a little longer than that for it to be a _little_ bit fair, don’t you think? Yes, I know that means a longer wait, but what’s the harm in a little fun?”

Nagisa cocked his brow and looked back at Makoto. Makoto shrugged; he was just as confused as Nagisa.

Sumi looked back to Nagisa. “Will you excuse us for a moment?” She swam through a door that Nagisa had not seen there a second ago, and it vanished before his eyes once Sumi and her eels disappeared through it. Nearly ten minutes passed before the door appeared again and they swam back through it. “Alright, m’dear. Here’s the deal. I can make you a potion that will turn you into a human for thirty sunsets. If, before the thirtieth sunset, you can get this human of yours to kiss you, you will become a human permanently. And when I say he has to kiss you, I mean he needs to fall in love with you. It won’t count if you kiss him.”

Nagisa, a little dazed at the thought of Rei kissing and falling in love with him, nodded and urged her to proceed.

“But if he doesn’t before your time runs out, you’ll be turned back into a merman…and you’ll have to come live here with me.”

Makoto moved closer to Nagisa to whisper. “Nagisa, I don’t think—”

Kou shushed him harshly.

“Well,” Nagisa tapped his chin. “If I fail at this and I have to come back to the ocean...I wouldn’t have any place to go back to anyway because I really do _not_ want to go back home.”

“Yes, you see? It’s a pretty good deal, don’t you think?”

Nagisa nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Makoto gasped quietly. “Nagisa!”

“Ah, splendid!” Sumi clapped her hands together. “But…I don’t work for free and I’d need some form of payment.”

“Oh, of course!” Nagisa dug a hand into his bag. “How much money would it—”

“Oh no, dear. Money is no good to me, I’m afraid. I like to make trades…bargains.”

“O-oh.” Nagisa removed his hand from his bag. “What kind of bargains? I really don’t know what I’d have to offer you.”

“Hmm, let me see.” She swam around him and looked him up and down. After gazing at his neck for a very long time, her eyes lit up and turned towards her eels once again. “Yes, that would be perfect, right my lovelies? Just like we discussed.” She turned back to Nagisa. “What I need from you is…your voice.”

“My…voice?”

“Yes. It’s a pretty fair bargain, don’t you think?”

“But if I can’t talk then how am I supposed to—”

“Oh, look at yourself, dear. You’re very beautiful.” She ran a hand softly over his cheek. “Your human said so himself, didn’t he? Besides, humans don’t like talking all that much anyways. Many find too much of it an annoyance, so it’d probably help you out if you didn’t overwhelm him with your irritating chatter.”

“Oh,” Nagisa reached a hand to his throat and grazed his fingers over it, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I didn’t know that.”

“Good thing you have me to help then, right? I couldn’t _bear_ the tragedy of it if he rejected you right away due to something so trivial. Oh, and if you don’t make it before the last sunset, you can get your voice back when you come to live with me. So, what do you say? Have we got a deal?”

“Hmmm.” Nagisa scrunched up his face in deep thought and Makoto broke his concentration by tapping on his shoulder.

“Nagisa…are you absolutely sure about this? What if you don’t like him? What if he turns out to be a horrible person?”

“Well, then I’d still get to spend the month as a human, right? I’d still have gotten to live my dream for a little while.”

“But are you really sure you want to stay with her if you come back? This place is…kinda scary.”

“It’d be better than going home; and I just can’t pass up this opportunity, Makoto.” He turned back to Sumi. “It’s a deal.”

Sumi’s seemingly kind eyes unexpectedly fogged over and her smile grew sinister. Then with a swish of her hand, she pulled a scroll and something sharp out of nowhere. “A blood contract for… _dramatic effect_ , I hope you don’t mind? I like to play the part as much as I can. It’s so much more fun that way.”

“Um, no. I don’t…mind.” Nagisa started to feel skeptical, but nervously reached for the sharp object anyway and pricked his finger on it. He gulped and rubbed it on the scroll, which instantly quivered and glowed at the contact before vanishing into thin air. The octopus started to hum ominously as she swam over to her vanity and retrieved a vial of green liquid from it. She emptied it into a fancy cauldron-like bowl made from coral and chanted a few words in a language Nagisa did not understand.

She raised her arms up in a theatrical motion and the liquid from the cauldron followed them and took the same form. “Sing, talk, do something with your voice!”

Taken aback by the shout, Nagisa nervously stuttered out an old lullaby his mother used to sing him. The liquid-like arms Sumi had been controlling snuck slowly toward Nagisa and he started to shiver the closer they got. Once they were close enough, Nagisa found it harder to concentrate on the song and nearly stopped completely.

“Keep singing or this will not work!”

Nagisa raised his voice up again, even though it was difficult. The hands reached him finally; one clenched uncomfortably around his throat, while the other reached straight down it without hesitation. His throat started to burn as the hand quickly withdrew, holding onto a glowing green orb of light that continued to sing in his voice. The other hand unclasped itself from Nagisa’s throat and he instantly reached up to it, feeling strange and empty.

Sumi laughed once she collected Nagisa’s voice inside a snail shell that, too, vanished like the scroll. She hurried back to her vanity to collect another vile of liquid, this one reddish in color. She didn’t take the time to open it and just violently smashed the entire thing into the cauldron. She made dramatic gestures that stirred it up until it bubbled and turned into a vapor. She then directed that vapor over to Nagisa; it engulfed him and rose him up instantly.

Nagisa made a sideways glance to Makoto and Kou and noticed that while Makoto’s expression was that of concern, Kou’s was nearly identical to Sumi’s; shrewd and cold. Nagisa looked away, suddenly feeling quite nauseous, so he took in a deep breath.

Then came the searing pain in Nagisa’s fin. It was burning, but far worse than the hand down his throat was. He looked down and the scales were legitimately _melting off_ and the fin itself was ripping in half. He wanted to scream, hoping that would somehow sooth the pain, but his voice was long gone and trapped away in a shell he could not locate. The gills on his neck started to close up, and he found it extremely hard to breathe. He felt faint due to the pain shooting through his body and the lack of oxygen he had never needed before.

“Stop this, you’re hurting him!” Makoto yelled. “He can’t breathe anymore, do something!”

“Oh, he can take it.” Sumi said coolly. “I’ve seen others do far worse than this.”

“It’s true.” Kou interjected, her voice sounding just as cool. “Some never even made it out alive.”

The transformation was nearly done and Nagisa looked blearily down as the last toe on his left foot formed. He was losing consciousness once the vapor disappeared; his vision started to blur and he weakened as he heard Sumi’s laughter lose all control and Makoto’s frantic yelling.

 

* * *

 

 

Makoto had gotten Nagisa and himself out of there as fast as he could. He held tightly onto Nagisa’s weakening form and swam furiously upward. He needed to get him to the surface immediately before…before...He was human now and he _needed_ air. Makoto could not _believe_ that nasty woman. Why hadn’t she formed some sort of shield around him during the transformation so he could breathe? He was so unbelievably angry, which didn’t happen often, and that anger fueled him to swim even faster. The water started getting lighter and lighter and he finally breached the surface.

Once they were above water, Nagisa started coughing furiously as he took shallow breaths in between. He suddenly grew limp in Makoto’s arms as he finally lost consciousness. “Let’s get you to the beach, okay?”

 

* * *

 

 

The sound of gentle waves hitting the shore soothed Nagisa awake and his eyes fluttered open slowly. He felt soft sand between his fingers and a calm wind that chilled the rest of him; he sat up carefully and heard a gasp beside him.

“Nagisa, oh thank goodness!” Makoto threw his arms around him. “I’m so glad you’re awake! You lost consciousness when we breached the surface. Your breathing was harsh for a while, but it steadied once I laid you on the beach. You’ve been out for some time, the sun is already setting. Are you okay? That…what that witch did…it looked painful.”

Nagisa nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. He looked to Makoto in shock for a moment; Makoto looked as equally shocked.

“What did you say?”

Nagisa brought his hands to his throat and ran his fingers over it a few times. He opened his mouth to try and speak again, but he was unsuccessful.

“S-she _actually_ took your voice. I didn’t think it was possible…but she did it! I mean, I guess it shouldn’t be so hard to believe considering she was able to turn you into a human and all.” Makoto laughed softly.

Nagisa stilled and directed his gaze quickly to his lower body. He had nearly forgotten that he had _just_ watched his fin practically deteriorate before his very eyes, but the entire ordeal had been a blur; he was in so much pain it was hard to remember. Sure enough, though, Nagisa’s gaze was met with a pair of two, as far as he could tell, perfectly developed human legs.

He reached to touch them and was sure he would have squealed in delight if he could. He looked to Makoto with his brightest smile and then looked back to his legs. He poked them, ran his nails lightly over them. He felt every touch, he felt the sand and wind against them…they were _real_. They were real and they were his.

“They certainly are the real deal.” Makoto interrupted. “Why don’t you give a shot at moving them?”

Nagisa nodded enthusiastically and started to stare intently at his legs and feet. _Wiggle your toes, wiggle your toes_ , he repeated in his head, and then let out a disappointed puff of air when they didn’t move right away. It was almost like falling asleep on your arm and waking up with no feeling in it, but then not being able to get the feeling back.

Nagisa knit his eyebrows close together and stuck his tongue out in concentration. _Wiggle your toes_ , he repeated again until, finally, they moved. They were wiggling and he didn’t want to stop wiggling them. He let out a soundless laugh and then eventually he slid his legs up into an angle so the backs of his knees weren’t touching the sand anymore.

He wriggled his legs around, extended and retracted, and shook them a bit to get used to all this movement. A few minutes of that, and nothing was going to stop him now. With a deep breath and a look of pure determination, Nagisa maneuvered his feet to lay them as flat on the sand as he could and shifted his weight to them and tried to push himself up. He dug his hands into the sand to balance himself and barely got an inch or so off the ground before his legs started buckling and he fell right back down. He took in a few more deep breaths and attempted this three more times, but he was unsuccessful. He crossed his arms and pouted in annoyance.

“You shouldn’t expect to get it right away, Nagisa.” Makoto laughed. “Be patient, you’ll get it.” Nagisa made his pout more dramatic in an attempt to get his feelings across to Makoto. They sat there in silence a few minutes before Makoto spoke up again. “Oh, right. I was able to get your bag back there, in case you were wondering.” Nagisa hadn’t even noticed Makoto was wearing the bag across his chest; he took it off and handed it over to Nagisa who hastily looked through it to make sure everything was all in there.

He was relieved to see that everything, including the butterfly brooch, had made it. He took the brooch out and looked at it. It sure was pretty with the light from the sunset reflecting off of the purple and red jewels that it was covered in. His mind sparked an idea while gazing at the brooch for a few minutes and he rolled over to get a bit closer to Makoto and started to write in the sand. He coaxed Makoto over to read what he had written.

“ _‘Can you get Rin for me?’_ What? Why?!” Nagisa quickly wrote a short response that read ‘ _He could coach me on how to stand!’_ “Nagisa…just because Rin has a vast knowledge on humans doesn’t mean that he’ll automatically know how to do that. I’m sure he’s never been a human before.”

Nagisa puffed up his cheeks and wrote aggressively into the sand, more than one sentence this time. _‘Well, if he can’t do that, the maybe he could help me with other human things. I don’t know anything about being a human. How I should act, what their daily routine is, what if I don’t know how to do something that is supposed to be an easy human task and I make a fool of myself?!’_

Makoto sighed upon reading, practically hearing the whine in Nagisa’s written words. He couldn’t even resist Nagisa’s pouting when his _voice_ was gone. He was so hopeless. “I don’t think it’ll be easy to convince him considering he hates merorcas, but I’ll try. I really didn’t want to go back to Shipwreck Rock earlier, so you owe me for this one; and stay safe and out of sight until I get back, okay?”

Nagisa nodded and hugged Makoto as best as he could, given the awkward position he was in currently. He watched Makoto swim off and occupied his waiting with sculpting things in the sand. It was strange, in a way, just sitting there by himself, almost as if this entire thing wasn’t real. It was _very_ real, though, and Nagisa couldn’t stop grinning stupidly at the thought of being a human for an entire _month_ ; the thought of getting to do all the things he’s been wishing to do since he was a child, the thought of learning all new things he’s been thirsty to learn, the thought of actually meeting Rei and…his mind stopped dead there. He would _actually_ be meeting Rei! Face to face. A _genuine_ meeting this time.

He felt his face flush and he sprawled himself on the sand and rolled around in it a bit. He would be _meeting_ Rei, he’d be hopefully _falling in love_ with him and could have the slightest chance that Rei would return the feelings. His face was burning with embarrassment he brought upon himself and he rolled over to the water and splashed it in his face. It felt cool and refreshing on his skin; he hadn’t realized how long he’d actually been out of the water. It was a weird feeling to be dry.

After he calmed himself from his fluster fit, he wanted to continue his little sand sculpture, but the sun had already set completely. He was thankful for the light that came from the castle nearby, but it wasn’t bright enough for him to be able to see the sculpture properly; at least he wasn’t in complete darkness, though.

The minutes that passed turned into an hour and Nagisa couldn’t help but get worried. He had just started to wonder if Makoto was alright when he heard a splash in front of him and saw two figures swimming toward the shore.

“Wow, orca boy wasn’t kidding.” Came a familiar snarky voice. Nagisa smiled once he saw Rin come into the light. “And a _full_ human too, not just the legs.” Rin took a glance at Nagisa’s human body. “Witch-lady didn’t skimp out on the details. I mean…you have _everything._ ”

Nagisa was relieved to hear that the transformation had been successful. It’s not like he or Makoto would really know if something went wrong and he was somehow missing parts. Makoto finally made it to shore and into the light and Nagisa shot a thankful smile at him.

“Sorry it took so long, it got dark and I got a little bit lost.” Makoto said shyly. “It was actually easier to convince him than I thought it’d be, though. He wanted nothing to do with me when I showed up, but once I mentioned you needed help, he instantly changed his mind. I explained everything to him on the way.” It was subtle, but Nagisa could see Makoto’s smirk in the dim lighting.

“Oi, I’m just doing this because I feel like I owe him, okay? He gave me more money than he had visits to my shop.” Rin growled through his teeth. “But jeez, when I suggested you swim to the surface yourself I didn’t think you’d off and get yourself turned into a human. That’s some real crazy shit.”

Nagisa smiled widely and knew he’d laugh really hard at that if he could. Apparently Rin caught on to that.

“What’s with this? Normally you run your mouth a million miles an hour and won’t shut up. You okay?”

“Oh, right.” Makoto added. “I forgot to mention. To become human, he had to give up his voice; it was part of the deal.”

Rin laughed. “Seriously? Wow, what a bargain! Not like anyone’ll miss it.” Nagisa shot Rin a death glare, but Rin only laughed harder. “Ah, this is too great. I’ll take those glares over that mouth of yours any day.” Nagisa rolled his eyes and looked away. “Okay, so you need to learn to stand, right?” Nagisa averted his eyes back to Rin and nodded. “All right, I can do that. Then I’ll tell you about some basic human stuff as well.”

As it turned out, Rin _did_ know the mechanics to how humans stood up and walked around, so he talked Nagisa through it with ease. Nagisa was still having a tough time, however, and Rin decided to have him take breaks every so often while he’d tell him some more information. He had hours worth of information; he told him about how the beds humans slept in were soft and cushy, unlike the rock beds merpeople usually had. He told him about etiquette and manners while at the dinner table as well as in social situations. He even told him about bathing and such, which Nagisa was extremely grateful for because he would have been awfully confused had a human told him to get into a tub of water to get clean.

Having felt a little more comfortable with this newfound knowledge, Nagisa felt he could try to stand again. Rin had told him it was best to try one foot at a time instead of both at once and to shift his weight from his arms to his legs as fast as he could. Nagisa managed to stand for a few seconds before toppling over, but he wasn’t going to give up this time.

On his fourth try, Nagisa was finally standing on both feet and was _not_ falling over. He smiled triumphantly and looked over to Rin and Makoto who prompted him to try to walk.

“Put all of your weight onto your left foot to take a step with your right. Once you set your right foot back onto the ground, shift all your weight there.”

Nagisa nodded and did as Rin said. He shakily put his foot in front of him and let it press into the sand as he shifted his weight to it. He stayed there a moment before it sunk in that he had just taken his _first_ _step_. He smiled and cheered internally before taking another step and another and soon he was walking more steadily across the beach, feeling like he had been walking for years.

“Not bad, kid.” Rin called out. “You could almost pass for a normal human now. Though, I think maybe you should find something to wear. I don’t think it’s acceptable to be naked in public.”

Nagisa looked down at himself and then back to Rin with an expression that said “And just _where_ am I going to find clothes on a beach?!”

Rin laughed. “I think I saw something over here, gimme a second.” He swam off along the shore and came back with some odd material. “I think it’s part of a ship’s sail, but it’s cloth, so it might work.” He laid it on the sand and Nagisa walked over to pick it up.

Nagisa haphazardly wrapped the cloth around his body like a toga and Rin tied it together for him. He probably looked silly since it was just an old ratted cloth, but he couldn’t help but be happy; this was his first time wearing clothing! Nagisa was getting excited at all the new “firsts” he was going to be experiencing in this month on land.

“Eh,” Rin started. “Well it’s not the best, but it’s okay for now, I suppose.”

Nagisa stuck out his tongue at Rin and took his bag from the ground. He swung the bag over his shoulder and started to strut gracelessly across the sand; he knew his beauty was enough to make these raggedy clothes look good.

“Well, you look…charming.” Makoto chuckled.

“Pfft, yeah. Make sure you do it in front of this human that orca boy told me about. I’m sure he’d _really_ enjoy it.” Rin suggested sarcastically.

Nagisa gave a sly smile and continued to strut around in his new clothes for a while before deciding to return and sit in the sand next to the water. Rin told Nagisa a few more things he needed to know and Nagisa took in every word. Before he knew it the sun started to rise and after admiring it a short while, he got up to bask in the light. It was so beautiful and quite warm already considering it barely started to peek out from the horizon.

For some reason, Nagisa really felt like running. He didn’t even know how and wasn’t sure if he could yet, but he really wanted to. He took a deep breath and readied himself.

“Nagisa, you’re not seriously thinking of running, are you? You just barely learned to walk, how do you expect to—”

Nagisa paid no attention to Makoto, as per usual, and he lunged off. It felt odd as his legs seemed to be flailing a bit, but Nagisa loved the sensation of the wind against his face and through his hair. No wonder Rei liked to do this.

“Nagisa!” came Makoto’s voice. “You’re going to fall and hurt yourself!”

“Oh, let him run. He looks like an idiot, but he seems to be doing fine.” Rin added.

Nagisa looked back at them for a moment to shoot them a smile, but right before he turned his head forward to look ahead again, he ran into something hard and was thrown to the ground from the force. He was thankful for the sand cushioning his fall, but he was definitely not used to falling at all. The air sure was a weird change from the water.

“Are you all right?” Came a familiar voice that startled Nagisa, and he jerked his head around to see just _who_ he ran into. “I apologize. I wasn’t…”

 A pair of violet eyes met Nagisa’s magenta ones, and Nagisa felt as though something came and sucked the air out of him. He was sitting there in the sand, face to face, with the very human he came up there for. He was sitting there with _Rei_ and Rei was _speaking_ to him. He seemed at a loss for words for a moment as he stared attentively at Nagisa, but he soon realized this and shook himself out of his daze. “I-I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

Nagisa just stared bewildered for a moment and knew he wouldn’t be able to produce words properly even if he _did_ have his voice.

“You look extremely familiar…have we met?”

Nagisa’s eyes widened and he nodded harshly. He continued to look straight at Rei and didn’t dare bat an eye lest he miss something. Rei’s eyes suddenly glinted in realization.

“We _have_ met. You’re the one who rescued me, aren’t you?!”


	7. Chapter 6

“I cannot even _begin_ to express my gratitude! I would be so happy if I could somehow return the favor.”

Nagisa had just met Rei mere minutes ago and Rei was already going on and on about how thankful he was for Nagisa that night of the storm. Not that Nagisa minded, though. He was perfectly okay with politely staring up at Rei the entire time, becoming even more transfixed at everything he was saying.

Rei paced back and forth as he spoke, but quickly came to a halt once he made eye contact with Nagisa again. “I’m sorry, I’ve been rambling on and I haven’t even properly introduced myself.” Rei pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat. “I am Prince Rei Ryugazaki of Iwatobi and it is an honor to finally meet my rescuer.” Rei bowed before Nagisa; this made Nagisa laugh internally because shouldn’t _he_ be the one to bow for Rei? “I have been wondering if I would ever be so lucky to meet you since you ran off so fast upon rescuing me. May I…ask your name?”

Not thinking, Nagisa opened his mouth to answer, but slumped when he remembered that he _couldn’t_ answer; he never thought about how he’d tell Rei his name. Nagisa put a hand shyly up to his throat and patted it while shaking his head. He hoped Rei would understand the gesture.

“You…can’t speak?”

Nagisa shook his head again and glanced down to the ground sadly.

“Oh, that’s a shame. I’m sorry to hear that.”

Nagisa gave a small shrug to hopefully let Rei know that it wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Ah, how rude of me. I knocked you down before and just left you sitting there this entire time. Here, let me help you up.” Rei extended a hand down to the blond and he happily accepted it. Once he touched Rei’s hand, however, he felt a weird tingling in his finger tips that shot all the way down to his toes. This caused him to shiver and he could have sworn Rei had felt something similar because Rei’s eyes opened in surprise and his hand almost withdrew from Nagisa’s before he gripped it a little tighter to pull him up.

As soon as Nagisa was finally on his feet, he felt extremely light-headed and swayed to the side, his still new walking and standing skills not helping him much in the least to keep him up-right.

“Whoa there!” Rei reacted quickly and caught him before he fell. “Are you all right?”

Nagisa suddenly felt extremely tired and he placed his fingers to his temples as a throbbing pain started to spread there. He shook his head in response to Rei’s question, and that was certainly a bad idea because it made the headache worse. Nagisa was losing strength in his legs and fought to keep his eyes open until he couldn’t anymore and felt himself slumping over and losing consciousness.

 

* * *

 

 

Rei gasped in shock when the boy suddenly collapsed into his arms and felt completely limp against him. A touch of panic wavered over Rei and he shook the boy a few times, perhaps a little too harshly. “S-sir? Sir?! Are you okay?!” The boy did not respond and Rei softly lowered him into the sand and frantically felt his neck for a pulse. He just barely _met_ this boy; he couldn’t just…not _now_! He seemed so young too, probably his own age or perhaps younger; it wouldn’t be fair! Rei breathed a sigh of relief when he finally calmed his hands down enough to feel a regulated heartbeat and soft breaths against his fingers. Rei relaxed on his knees and stared down at the boy.

Was he okay? He _was_ wearing some rather odd clothing. Maybe he was in some sort of trouble. How’d he even get on this beach anyway? Did he swim here from a boat? Where had he even gone after rescuing him in the first place? Rei had so many questions and no way to get answers, and it was frustrating. He glanced back down at the boy and froze when he saw the unexpected look of pure discomfort that had formed on his face.

“Sir?” He shook him again, but he was definitely still asleep; though he started to become very pale. Rei got to his feet and hastily scooped the boy up into his arms to carry back up to the castle. He couldn’t just leave him there in this state.

Once he made it to the walk way, he could have sworn he heard a faint yelling come from the beach. He looked behind him thought he saw something move from behind that one boulder. He stared for a moment and then shrugged it off. That boulder always played tricks on him, so he never knew why he didn’t just ignore it.

He made it up the steps with enough ease despite having to carry another, though the boy was a little heavier than he looked. He saw Seijuuro once he reached the patio and picked up the pace to catch him before he disappeared through the door.

“Sei, wait!”

“Rei? How strange, you’re done with you run earlier than usual. Were you seriously that tired from—wait…who the heck is this?!”

“I ran into him on the beach, he collapsed and needs medical attention immediately.”

“Do you even know who this kid is, Rei? We can’t just take in random strangers. Look at his _clothes_ for crying out loud!”

“He’s the person who saved me from drowning, Sei! Please, we need to get him to our doctor.”

“He’s the person who…how do you know that?! You were hardly even conscious, how could you possibly—”

“I’ll explain later, just help me!”

“All right, all right. Calm down. No need to yell.” He opened the door up for Rei to let him in first, then he headed up the stairs. “I’ll let them know you’re coming up with someone, okay?”

“Thank you!” Rei called out. He tried to go up the stairs as quickly and as safely as he could and laid the boy onto the bed once he reached the infirmary.

 

* * *

 

                           

“So you’re absolutely sure it’s him?”

“Of course I am! I could never forget his face; he was just too _…beautiful_.”

“You do realize how corny that sounds, don’t you, little brother?”

“S-shut up! I’m just telling you what I remember.”

“Kinda convenient that he can’t talk though, don’t you think?”

“What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean, Sei?”

“I’m just saying. There’s a lot of unanswered questions here. I mean, don’t you think it’s a little bit odd that he disappeared after saving you? Why did he decide to show himself today instead of two days ago? Where did he even disappear to? How did he get back?”

“Well, obviously we’ll never know if we don’t let him stay long enough to find out, will we?”

“What if that’s his entire plan, though? To just get a place to stay in the castle?”

“That is utterly ridiculous!”

The voices gradually got less muffled and louder as Nagisa laid there; he soon realized they were talking about him. He shifted a tad and moved his hands over his lap when he felt a soft cushy fabric underneath them. He willed himself to open his eyes and noticed he was in a human bed. He smiled; they were definitely more comfortable than the beds they had back home just like Rin said. Nagisa frowned at the thought. He had left Rin and Makoto down by the beach without saying goodbye. Come to think of it, how did he even get here in the first place? He remembered meeting Rei and then Rei thanking him and…that’s right! He passed out, didn’t he?

Rei suddenly back-stepped into the room and had his hands on the door. “Sei, he isn’t some secret spy here to take over my kingdom! Stop spouting these absurd notions and let the poor boy sleep.” Nagisa caught a glimpse of an orange-haired boy with an over-bearing grin at the door and Rei shut them before he could get inside. Rei let out a sigh of relief when he heard a grunt and footsteps fading away from the infirmary. “Goodness, he’s persistent.” Rei turned around to lean on the door and nearly jumped when he saw Nagisa was sitting up on the bed.

 “Oh, you’re awake! I…apologize for being so loud. I hope our arguing wasn’t what woke you up.”

Nagisa shook his head innocently. Although it was true he woke up because he heard voices, he didn’t want Rei to feel guilty for something so silly; and it was easier to deny it anyways since he had no voice to explain properly that it didn’t matter.

Rei walked over to the bed and sat in a chair next to it. “You’ve been asleep a few hours. The doctor said you were physically exhausted and a bit dehydrated. Are you feeling better?” Nagisa nodded with that warm smile of his. “Ah, good. You really look like you went through a lot, though. The clothes you were wearing were filthy and torn up. I hope you don’t mind, but I had the doctor replace them with something a little more practical.”

Nagisa’s eyes shot open and he flipped he blankets off and looked down at himself. Instead of the old rags, he was now wearing some loose-fitting clothing with purple polka dots. The fabric was softer than what was covering the bed, and it was actually quite comfortable; more so than the rags Rin found for him.

“Sorry if they’re a bit big, they’re an old set of pajamas I don’t wear much anymore.” Nagisa’s breath caught slightly in his throat and he tried to pass it like he was just clearing out some phlegm. He was wearing _Rei’s clothes._ The thought made him blush all the way across his ears and he tried very hard to conceal it. “My friend Haruka’s probably the closest to your size,” Rei continued, thankfully not having noticed anything strange. “But he’s shopping in the village at the moment and it didn’t feel right to give you his clothes without his permission.”

Nagisa simply smiled at him and nodded. This was absolute _torture_ not being able to talk. All Nagisa wanted to do was respond correctly and not feel like he was completely uninterested in what Rei was saying because that was _far_ from the truth. He sincerely hoped that he didn’t come across that way to Rei.

“What exactly happened anyway? How did you end up here and in those rags?” Nagisa shot Rei a quizzical expression; he couldn’t have already forgotten he can’t talk back, right? After a short moment, a shot of realization appeared on Rei’s face. “Ohh, right! I’m sorry. I’ve just never spoken to someone who can’t talk back before.” Nagisa shook his head and waved it off to tell Rei it was okay. “Oh!” Rei spoke again. “Maybe if you wrote it down?” Rei stood up from his chair and retrieved a pen and pad of paper from the back of his pants.

Nagisa excitedly took them from Rei when he handed them over and thought about what he should write. He obviously couldn’t tell Rei the truth, there was no way he’d believe him, and he wasn’t even sure if telling him everything would interfere with the deal he made with Sumi. So instead, Nagisa settled for scribbling out some story about a shipwreck or something. As he wrote, he didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of communicating like this before. Human writing utensils weren’t all that different than what the merfolk used, other than the human paper being a lot frailer; but Nagisa was glad for the similarity so he didn’t look like an idiot trying to figure out what Rei had given him. Once he was satisfied with the story he came up with, he handed the pad and writing utensil back to Rei.

Rei’s expression grew very confused as he stared at the paper. “What…what kind of language is this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before.”

Crap, that’s right. Why on earth did Nagisa expect Rei would understand mer-language?

“Is this the only language you know how to write?” Nagisa sadly nodded his head. “Huh, how odd. You can understand what I’m saying now, yet you don’t know the written language. This is going to make communicating rather difficult.”

“Why don’t you teach him how to write, then?”

Nagisa nearly jumped out of his sitting position on the bed and Rei leapt to his feet in response to the voice. Nagisa looked immediately to his left and recognized the dark-haired boy from before standing in the doorway.

“Haruka! You nearly scared me to death! I didn’t even hear you open the door.” Rei squeaked.

“Sorry.” Haruka then stared unblinking at Nagisa.

“Ah, Haruka. This is the boy who saved me from the—”

“Yes, I know. I ran into your brother on the way up. He explained everything.”

Haruka was still staring at Nagisa and Nagisa started feeling a little uncomfortable and was alarmed when he started walking toward him. He had a serious expression and it intimidated Nagisa so much that he pushed himself up against the frame of the bed as much as he could in a useless attempt to escape. Once Haruka got close enough to be within touching distance of him, Nagisa closed his eyes tight, expecting the worse. What did Nagisa do to make him look so cold? Then the unexpected happened, Nagisa felt a hand on his own. Confused, he opened his eyes to see Haruka holding his hand firmly and giving it a shake.

“Thank you.”

Nagisa was stunned at Haruka’s words, considering he looked like he hated him or something, but he nodded and gently squeezed his hand back. Haruka gave a small nod to Nagisa before turning to look at Rei.

“So, as I said before…teach him how to write. He obviously knows how to write _some_ sort of language. So at least the concept itself won’t be hard for him to understand.”

“I suppose that would make communicating much easier, though it’ll take a while before we’ll get to that point.” Rei looked to Nagisa. “What do you say? Would you like for me to teach you how to write?”

Nagisa couldn’t contain his excitement and leapt off the bed to take Rei’s hands in his and give an eager nod. Rei jumped at the sudden pang of Nagisa’s enthusiasm and stiffened slightly at the touch of Nagisa’s hands on his own. His shoulders relaxed eventually, and he gave a rare smile. Nagisa’s heart nearly leapt from his chest at the sight; Rei was _smiling._

“All right, it’s settled then. We can start tomorrow morning if you wish—” Rei was cut off by a knock on the door and a young woman in a uniform who had stepped inside.

“I have the requested room prepared, your highness.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Atsuko. I really appreciate it.”

“Of course, your highness. Would you like me to assist?”

“No, that won’t be necessary, I can do it.” Rei turned back to Nagisa. “Are you okay to walk? I would like to show you to your bedroom now.” Nagisa brightened and nodded eagerly. He then took a firm hold of Rei’s hand again and pulled him out of the infirmary and down the hall. Rei sputtered at the sudden action. “Ah, w-wait! You don’t even know where you’re going!” Nagisa stopped abruptly and released Rei’s hand to place his own on the back of his neck in an apologetic motion. “It’s quite all right.” Rei stated, having understood Nagisa’s gesture. “Now if you’ll please follow me.” Rei straighted out and started to walk, ironically, in the same direction Nagisa was pulling him before. Nagisa could have sworn he saw a light tinge of red on the taller boy’s ears.

Getting to their destination was a task in itself with Nagisa wanting to look at every single new thing he saw. He gawked at the various paintings and tapestries that decorated the walls of the hallways, and marveled at the magnificent statues that stood alongside the walls and in the windows. Rei ended up having to chase Nagisa down every five minutes to ensure he didn’t get himself lost or hurt.

“You’re quite the curious one, aren’t you? Energetic too. I probably made up for missing my morning run by chasing you around just now.” Nagisa threw Rei an apologetic grin, but he was internally kicking himself. He hadn’t even been awake for an hour yet and he was already running around as freely as he could and causing Rei to have to chase after him. Was he being too overwhelming even _without_ his voice? He really hoped he hadn’t already annoyed Rei. “Well, shall we continue?” Rei gestured down the hallway. Nagisa sighed in relief that Rei didn’t seem to be annoyed with him; he nodded and followed Rei down the hallway. It didn’t take long to get there, but it definitely seemed a lot longer than it was because Nagisa was trying his hardest not to run off again.

They reached a big door and Rei opened it to reveal the most beautiful room Nagisa had ever seen. It was even larger than his room back home and _much_ more decorated. The bed had yellow blankets and light pink curtains that draped over the bed _and_ matching curtains on the window that Nagisa could tell presented a beautiful view of the beach. There were two lovely bedside tables made from a light-colored wood that Nagisa could not remember the name of, and a matching vanity with a mirror opposite the bed. He stood there in awe for a time before Rei finally decided to break the silence.

“This room hasn’t been used in years, but the color scheme reminded me of you so I…I thought it would be perfect.” Rei then cleared his throat, looked away, and pushed up his glasses. “I hope you like it.” Nagisa’s eyes lit up and he nodded kindly at Rei and stepped into the bedroom to flop directly onto the bed. He buried his face into the pillows, the fabric was soft and the scent was sweet; Nagisa wondered what the scent was. Just when Nagisa started to think about what the scent could be, he thought he heard a small chuckle come from behind him. “I’ll let you get settled then.” Rei stepped out of the room, but stopped himself in the middle of closing the door and poked his head back in. “If you ever need anything, my room is right down the hall; last door on the right. And if you can’t find me, Haruka’s room is in the next hall over, the second door on the left.” Nagisa lifted his face from the pillows to give Rei before he nodded back and left.

Once the door shut, Nagisa jumped up from the bed and looked out the window. The view was incredible and he was amazed with how vast the ocean looked from this high up. He saw _everything_ on the beach; he could even see that one boulder of his. He suddenly remembered Makoto and Rin again and he hoped they weren’t worried. He’d have to sneak down once it got dark to see if they were still there.

Nagisa turned away from the window and walked over to the vanity and looked at his reflection; it’d be the first time he saw himself as a human, so he was fairly excited when he looked at his legs in the mirror. He even blushed a bit when he realized just how big Rei’s pajamas _really_ were. He looked at the top he wore and scrunched his face up. How could be even take this off? He ran his fingers over the top and recognized the small round pieces of plastic on the front. Buttons! Nagisa remembered Rin talking about these too and tried to remember what he said about how they worked. He fumbled with them a bit and finally, after a few minutes, one came undone. Delighted with the new discovery, Nagisa tried to undo the others and only had one left when there was a swift knock on the door that had Nagisa jumping in surprise. He hurried to the door to open it and found Haruka standing in the hall holding a pile of neatly folded clothing.

“Rei told me that you didn’t have any clothes of your own, so I figured you could borrow some of mine until you can get some.” Nagisa accepted the pile with a warm smile. “Dinner will be soon. Want me to drop by in an hour to take you down?” Nagisa looked up from admiring the clothes and nodded gratefully. He was sure he’d get lost if he were to try and find places by himself so early on. “Okay. See you later.” Not another word and Haruka was gone. Nagisa shut the door and laid all of the clothing out on the bed.

 He then spent the next hour going through each item and trying everything on. He had some difficulty in figuring out how to wear everything properly and wound up getting stuck a few times; though he was able to free himself from the tangled messes he got himself into. He stared at a particular piece of clothing for a long time and wondered what it was. It didn’t look much like any of the tops, nor did it look like any of the bottoms. He settled for it being some sort of interesting-looking bottoms and somehow managed to slip it on.

He looked into the mirror once he picked out a top he liked, which had thankfully only taken him a few tries to get on. He thought the top looked fine, it was a pretty pale pink, but the bottoms looked really odd and he wasn’t even sure if he had put them on correctly. He pondered for a few minutes when there was another knock on the door. Taking one last glance in the mirror, he made his way over to the door and found Haruka on the other side again with the same neutral expression as before.

“Time for dinn…” Haruka faded off and blinked a few times. “The shirt. You have that shirt on backwards.” Nagisa tore his gaze away from Haruka and looked down at his top. “And you’re wearing a vest as pants…” Nagisa blushed and frantically tried to fix everything, but wasn’t doing a very good job as his fingers were not cooperating with him at all. He _knew_ the clothes looked odd, and now he was going to be made fun of for sure! “Hey. No need to panic over it, I’ll help.” He stepped inside and closed the door behind him to help fix Nagisa’s clothes.

It only took a few minutes, but Haruka managed to get Nagisa into his clothes properly and even showed him how he was supposed to wear the vest; Nagisa put it on and was happy with the result. It was powder blue and contrasted well with the pale pink of the top he was wearing. Haruka stood back and took a look at the blond before nodding in approval. Nagisa was grateful that he hadn’t questioned or ridiculed his inability to dress himself properly.

Nagisa followed Haruka closely down the hallway and also down the “stairs”, as Haruka had called them, and Nagisa only hesitated at the top of them for a few seconds before proceeding down. So _this_ was how they made it to the higher floors. They passed some more lovely paintings and Nagisa had to once again contain himself from running off to look at everything, but thankfully the trip didn’t last long and they arrived in the dining hall in no time.

 

* * *

 

 

Rei was listening to his brother talk to the right of him at the long rectangular table that sat dead center of the giant room. He always found it a little ridiculous having to dine on such a big table in the large dining hall when there were only a few people actually dining there this evening. His parents rarely ever joined them anymore, and when they did, it was only for a short while. Not that Rei ever complained, though. His parents were doing their jobs as rulers and they didn’t take time for leisure that often and always seemed to be busy with one thing or another.

Tonight, it was just his brother, Haruka, Seijuurou, Goro, and himself…and his rescuer, of course. He really wish he knew what his name was so he could address him properly. It didn’t really feel right to call him such formal titles like “sir” or anything of the like. He glanced towards the doorway and nearly fell back in his chair when it opened and Haruka entered with the blond boy following him. Rei straightened up in his seat and watched the two make their way across the room and to the table.

The boy looked rather handsome in the outfit he had chosen for the evening. The colors went well with each other and suited his skin tone and hair color; the light from the setting sun that shined through the giant stained glass windows in the room also added quite a beautiful atmospheric…Rei’s mind caught up with itself and he shook his head and pushed up his glasses to momentarily hide his heating face. He noticed that this had been happening often today and it was embarrassing.

“Ah, there you are, Haruka.” Rei’s brother called once he noticed the two had come in. “I was beginning to think our new guest had gotten lost in the castle somewhere.” Haruka said nothing, a usual thing for him, and sat down. The boy didn’t follow and looked around nervously before looking to Rei for what seemed like approval.

“Please sit.” Rei assured. The boy nodded and sat down in the chair opposite Rei.

Throughout the dinner, Rei couldn’t help but watch everything the boy did; he was just so…so _odd_ and _quirky_ , but Rei thought that a very endearing quality on the blond. He had only looked nervous that once when he had arrived and then he became completely comfortable in no time, which made Rei a bit envious; he wished he could have the same confidence at times. The boy was also always smiling, Rei thought that quite endearing as well, and even though he could not talk, he sure looked as though he wouldn’t shut up if he _could_. He was very energetic and nearly ate more than his body weight in food. Not to mention, he even looked at everything like it was the most interesting thing in the world…like he was seeing it for the first time in his life.

For some reason, though, Rei liked seeing that sparkle in his eyes every time he looked at a piece of silverware or at Goro’s pipe or even at the napkins on the table that were folded into cranes; and Rei couldn’t help but smile when he saw the amazed look on the boy’s face when he took his first bite of chocolate pudding at dessert. Rei even noticed the boy glance his way a few times and he averted his eyes quickly each time, for that would have been embarrassing if he was caught staring at him.

Once dinner was over and the table was cleared, Rei said goodnight to his brother, Goro, and Sei, and headed up the stairs with the boy; Haruka had already left a few minutes prior since he usually likes to bathe before bed.

The boy was still cheery on the walk to their rooms, and Rei wondered how someone so small could hold as much energy as he did. Rei dropped him off at the pink and yellow room and told the boy what time he would stop by the next morning for their first writing lesson. He bid him goodnight with a small smile, which was returned with an even bigger smile and a hug; this took Rei completely by surprise and he went rigid. The boy seemed to notice and unlocked his arms from around Rei’s back and looked at the ground with an apologetic expression

“No, no. Don’t feel bad, I was just surprised. F-feel free to hug me in the future.” The boy’s eyes shined with wonder and he nodded happily before waving to say goodnight and closing the door behind him. _Feel free to hug me in the future? Really, Rei? Did you seriously just…_ Rei placed his thumb and index finger to his brows and knitted them close together. That really was a weird thing to say and he hadn’t a clue why his mind let him even think that let alone actually _say_ it. He took a deep breath and finally walked back to his room, a blush once again heating up his face.

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off of his face even as he snuck out of his room and outside to the beach a few minutes later. The first day had definitely been a success and Nagisa couldn’t wait to tell Makoto all about it…if he was actually still there, that is. Nagisa slipped off his shoes before walking too close to the water and picking up a few stones to toss into the water and hopefully get Makoto’s attention. To Nagisa’s delight, a familiar brunet head peaked out from the water to investigate and Makoto nearly leaped into the air once he saw it was Nagisa. Nagisa waved and sat down in the sand, not caring if the water got his clothes wet.

“Oh my god, Nagisa!” Makoto swam all the way to the shore and pulled Nagisa into a hug. “I was so worried! You fainted and looked really sick, and then Rei picked you up and took you away and it had been hours and I know I shouldn’t have worried, but…ah I’m just glad you’re okay.” After a moment longer, Makoto released from the embrace and looked at Nagisa. “Oh, are these your new clothes? They look nice on you.” Nagisa got closer and wrote down an answer in the sand and that was how they spent the next 45 minutes.

Nagisa told Makoto about everything, the beautiful room he was staying in, all the amazing décor in the castle, how kind Haruka was despite carrying a neutral expression all of the time, and he, of course, told Makoto about Rei. How sweet he was, how flustered he got while around him, how he was staring at him at dinner, and that he was going to teach him how to write so they could have an easier time communicating. Makoto seemed happy about that congratulated Nagisa on his successful first day.

Nagisa glanced around and wrote another message in the sand. _Where’s Rin?_

“Oh, Rin had to leave a while ago.” Makoto started. “He said he felt bad about leaving Ai alone for too long. He said he’d come back to visit when he could, though.” Nagisa nodded. “It’s getting late, though. You should probably head back before someone notices you’re out here.”

Nagisa wrote in the sand again. _I’ll try to come out and visit after dinner each night_.

“Sounds like a good plan to me; I’m definitely not going anywhere. Now get go—oh wait!” Makoto took a bag off of his shoulder and handed it over to Nagisa. “You left this here, I’m sure you’ll want it now.” Nagisa took the bag and stood up and put his shoes back on. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Nagisa nodded and waved as he walked across the beach and up the steps that led to the castle.

Nagisa was always good at sneaking around since he had years of practice at home, but he found it a little more difficult to be quiet while his footsteps echoed through the halls as he hurried up the stairs. So far, so good, despite how loud he thought he was being, but he figured he’d make it the rest of the way no problem. However, he ran into Haruka on the way and nearly knocked him over.

“Oi.” Haruka muttered and Nagisa lifted his hands in apology. Haruka shook his head and water droplets flew off of his hair and hit Nagisa in the face. When he finally looked at Nagisa, he eyed his bag suspiciously, but shrugged it off and looked back down the hall. “Don’t worry about it. Goodnight.” He continued past Nagisa without another word and Nagisa was thankful he hadn’t questioned him about being out of his room so late.

Once he finally made it back to the room, Nagisa placed his bag on the vanity, changed back into Rei’s pajamas, and climbed into the soft, cushy bed; it was even more comfortable than the one he slept in in the infirmary. He clung to the extra pillows next to him and fell asleep almost instantly even though he was excited and looking forward to his first writing lessons the next day.


	8. Chapter 7

The horrible burning sensation in his throat was back and he was thrashing around aimlessly with nothing but the vast open ocean surrounding him. He couldn’t swim away in any direction and the burning was only getting worse; without warning, he was entangled in something dark. He tried to free himself from its prison, but it only seemed to get worse the more he stuggled. He managed to pull through a few layers and saw the familiar face of Sumi; her expression was conniving and deceitful. This alarmed Nagisa at first because she really seemed quite nice, but then Nagisa remembered the creepy aura she gave off and how she would throw unnerving expressions at Nagisa when she thought he wasn’t looking.

She grinned at Nagisa and started roaring with laughter, and suddenly Nagisa remembered hearing this before back when he was transforming into a human. His eyes grew wide in shock because he thought he had imagined that; no wonder Makoto had been so angry.

A loud pounding noise erupted against Nagisa’s ears and before he knew it, Sumi and the dark prison that shrouded him had disappeared and he was once again floating in the open ocean. The pounding continued and Nagisa covered his ears and clenched his eyes shut. When he opened them, he was laying in the yellow-sheeted bed he remembered falling asleep in the night before and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was just a dream…a dream that suddenly escaped him and he couldn’t remember anything other than feeling that familiar burning sensation in his throat. He fought hard to recall, but he didn’t have time to think about it because he realized someone had been knocking on his door.

“Um, it’s Rei. Are you awake?”

Nagisa stopped worrying about remembering the dream when he heard the sound of Rei’s voice and hopped out of bed in a flash to answer the door. Rei was already dressed and ready for the day, and he seemed to brighten up once he saw Nagisa.

“Good morning, did you sleep well? I know it may be weird the first night sleeping in a new place.” Nagisa nodded and stretched his arms into the air. “You have, uh…quite the bed hair.” Rei said chuckling a bit. Nagisa cocked his brow. Bed hair? What was that? Did that mean his hair looked like a bed? Nagisa mentally freaked out for a second, so he ran over to the mirror and made a new discovery as he gawked at his reflection.

His hair was sticking up wildly in all directions and he had no idea how that was even possible. He ran his fingers through it and smiled; this was the most ridiculously interesting thing he had ever seen.

“You seemed surprised, has this never happened before?” Rei asked while stepping inside the room. Nagisa shook his head to say no since there was no way this could happen under water. “Huh, how strange. You must have had an odd dream, or perhaps just getting used to the new place could have done it. I know I get really unflattering bed hair in the mornings as well.” He reached up and fixed his bangs a tad. “It’s time-consuming having to set my hair every morning, but the result is usually worth it. Anyway,” He took his hand away from his hair and looked back to Nagisa. “I’ll let you dress and then we can head downstairs for breakfast before starting the first lesson. Would you like me to wait outside?”

Nagisa nodded, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically since it made Rei raise an eyebrow, but Rei eventually returned the nod and stepped outside. Nagisa threw his clothes on and was impressed with not having gotten stuck in anything this time; he looked in the mirror at his hair again. How was he even going to get it back to normal? It wouldn’t stay like this forever, would it?

He stepped outside where Rei was waiting and he motioned to his hair with a confused shrug.

“Your hair? Do you need assistance?” Nagisa gave Rei a pleading nod. “Very well.” Rei stepped inside. “Please sit in front of the mirror.” Nagisa did as he was told and Rei reached for a handle on the vanity and pulled on it; Nagisa was surprised when a compartment opened up and Rei retrieved a brush from inside. Rei stared at the mess of curls before him and adjusted his glasses before he began running the brush through the knots. Nagisa winced slightly when the brush pulled at his hair, but other than the first few strokes, Rei was gentle. He treated Nagisa’s hair with utmost care, and Nagisa started to relax and closed his eyes after a few minutes as the bristles massaged Nagisa’s scalp. Human brushes were definitely a lot more soothing on the head than the brushes back home.

“Almost finished, excuse me one moment.” Rei left the room, but took no time to return and ran a now damp brush through Nagisa’s hair. “Just a little bit of water, and your hair should be back to normal.” A few more strokes of the brush, and Rei stopped. “Alright, I’m finished. What do you think?”

Nagisa was a little disappointed that the brushing was over, but he lazily opened his eyes; he was relieved when his hair was back to a tamer state and similar to how it had been the previous day. He smiled at Rei and gave a nod of approval. Rei gave a triumphant grin and placed the brush back into the vanity compartment before getting Nagisa to follow him out to the hallway and down to the dining hall.

Breakfast consisted of what Nagisa was told were pancakes with his choice of either maple or strawberry syrup. Nagisa chose strawberry and was glad he did, because it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted in his life. He glanced at Rei, who had said no to the pancakes because they were ‘not a healthy breakfast’ and chose to eat some fruit instead. Haruka didn’t eat the pancakes either and Nagisa could have laughed when he saw him eating mackerel on toast. Nagisa didn’t mind, though, since that only meant more for him.

He ate three servings of pancakes before he was full and Rei gawked at him, his expression almost fascinated with how much he ate. He shook his head and had Nagisa follow him out of a different door on the other side of the dining hall where they headed to another side of the castle Nagisa had not been to yet. They went up a few staircases and finally stopped once they came to the tallest double doors Nagisa had ever seen. Rei opened them to reveal one of the places Nagisa could only ever wish to set foot in…the library.

His mouth hung open and he stared unblinking at the bookshelves that reached all the way to the ceiling and Nagisa had never seen so many books in his life. They had books back home, of course, but they were made completely differently so that they would withstand being under the water. Nagisa had only come across a few human books for his collection, but none he found was ever in very good condition and usually falling apart due to the frailness of the paper.

“This is my favorite place in the castle,” Rei broke the silence. “If you can’t find me in my room or out running, I’m probably in here. I’ll read about almost any subject as long as the interest is strong enough.” He took his bag off of his shoulder and set it on one of the tables. “You can go ahead and take a look around while I set up.”

Nagisa turned around and took everything in; the smell, the colors of the papers and the covers, the way everything was organized, it was quite the incredible site. He started to walk toward one shelf in particular because the colors of the covers seemed to be the brightest. He picked out a few books and flipped through them despite not being able to read anything, but they were still really neat too look at and feel; some even had pictures. He placed the books back into their spots and continued to browse when he came across a book that had a familiar silhouette on the spine.

He picked it off of the shelf and noticed there was a bookmark inside, so he flipped to the page; what he found really surprised him. On the left page was an accurate illustration of a merperson and on the right was a description that Nagisa wished he could read. Why was this bookmarked? Had Rei read this book? Nagisa started to feel a little uneasy at not knowing what laid inside the page before him.

What did it even say? Did it describe merpeople as horrible, disgusting beings that would kidnap you? Did it talk about the stupid myths of how if you captured a merpson, they could grant you any wish you wanted, or how mermaid tears apparently had magical properties? Nagisa was never one to dwell too much on the bad things that humans did, but for some reason, he couldn’t help but get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Nagisa flipped through the rest of the book and found other illustrations, but none helped to tell him anything about the text itself other than what merpeople looked like and some anatomic diagrams and so on; which Nagisa obviously knew already.

He closed the book, placed it back onto the shelf, and took note of where it was so he could go back and look at it once he’s had enough lessons to give a shot at reading some of the text. Rei called him over and he sat down at the table right next to Rei. It was crazy to think that the last time he had a lesson like this, it was back home with Miho when he was still oblivious to what his dad was planning behind his back. Nagisa clenched and unclenched his fists under the table and tried not to think about his dad.

“First and foremost,” Rei began. “The alphabet.” Rei pointed to a sheet of paper on the table that had letters on it. “The most obvious way to start.” He slid the sheet closer to Nagisa so he could see it better and proceeded to recite and point to each letter a few times; then he gave an example of a word that began with each corresponding letter. A as in apple, B as in boy and so on.

After that, Rei took out two plain sheets of paper; one for Nagisa and one for himself. “Now, there are uppercase letters and lowercase letters,” he wrote two letters on his sheet of paper. “Or, in simpler terms, big and small letters. The big letters indicate something important like the start of a sentence or like the beginning of a name. There are 26 letters in the alphabet and each letter has its own lowercase.” He wrote on the paper again. “This is an uppercase A, and this is a lowercase A, do you understand?” Nagisa nodded while Rei wrote down the rest of them. “Okay, for now I would like you to practice writing the first six letters; A through F.”

Nagisa scrunched his face up in heavy concentration when he took the pencil and stared back and forth between the sample and his own paper. He finally placed the pencil softly onto the paper after a few short minutes and tried to copy down the first letter. He stared at his first completed letter and it looked awful, but he did it! He then proceeded to write down the other letters, but started to get frustrated with himself about half way through and he knew it showed on his face because Rei put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Take as much time as you need, I’m not going anywhere; and write it down as many times as you want until you think you’ve got it down.” Nagisa’s face heated up at the sudden touch of his shoulder, which was silly, it was just a simple supportive gesture. He composed himself and started back on writing again. He made sure to take deep breaths and not to stress himself out; once he learned how to write all the letters, it would be much easier and he could learn how to write words and eventually sentences. He could do this!

 After about 20 minutes, he managed to write all of them down and covered the entire sheet of paper. He set the pencil down and admired his work; he thought he did a pretty good job. He looked to Rei with a smile and nodded.

“Oh, you’re done already? Great!” Rei took a look at Nagisa’s sheet and nodded in approval. “Yes, very good! Your handwriting even improved as you progressed.” Nagisa brightened up at the words. “Now, do you think you could give a shot at trying to write these down without referring to the reference sheet?” Nagisa gave a firm nod. “Very well, then.” Rei flipped the reference sheet over as well as Nagisa’s now filled paper and motioned for Nagisa to start whenever he was ready.

Nagisa stared at the blank page for a few minutes to wrack his brain for what he had written down a million times just a few minutes ago. The first letter was A, he remembered because when he first saw it, it reminded him of a toothless shark breaching the water; he wrote that down with ease. Unfortunately, it took him a lot longer to remember the rest. He sat there with blank eyes and even though he had just wrote everything down, he couldn’t remember anything. He looked to Rei, who was patiently waiting for Nagisa to proceed, and then back to his paper.

What if he couldn’t learn how to write? What if he spent the entire month he had as a human just stuck on the alphabet and never got to have a proper conversation with Rei? Nagisa shook the thought away. No, he couldn’t let that happen. He had to learn, and he had to learn quickly. He gulped and set his pencil down and started to move it hesitantly across the page.

The next letter was B, right? He nodded to himself and faintly remembered what the B looked like and then the lowercase B not too long after. He finally started writing with a steadier pace after he finished the C’s and was becoming a bit more confident. This took a bit longer than writing everything out the first time, but he managed to get them all down within the next fifteen minutes. He looked to Rei again with a nod.

“Oh, finished? Let me see…” Rei slid Nagisa’s sheet closer to him and looked it over. “Wow, you did better than I was expecting. Only one mistake, you mixed the F and the E around; E comes first. Though I can understand your mistake, the letters themselves look similar, don’t they?”

Nagisa’s shoulders slumped when Rei pointed out his mistake and he pouted at his paper. He knew it too! He had put the E first, but he changed his mind at the last minute and switched them around.

“Aw, don’t be upset; you’re only learning, after all. You don’t need to get it right away. All you need is practice and perseverance, and you already have the latter. So,” he pulled out another blank piece of paper and placed it in front of Nagisa. “Just try again.”

Nagisa’s eyes sparkled at Rei’s encouragement and he definitely felt more motivated. He never had a teacher like Rei before, all he ever had was Miho, and while she was a good teacher and person, Nagisa never felt like her methods ever worked for him. His sisters always took to Miho great and understood her lessons very well, but Nagisa felt like he would learn better if she tried a different approach once in a while. With Rei, however, it was as though he knew exactly the best way Nagisa could learn; through lots of encouragement and praise and that his mistakes were not the most horrible thing in the world, but something to learn from. Nagisa picked up the pencil and gave a determined nod and scribbled down the letters; he was proud of saying he had accomplished this a lot faster this time.

“Aha, see? I knew you could do it!” Rei marveled as he looked over the completed sheet. “Now, let’s move onto the next six letters.”

 

* * *

 

 

The two boys remained in the library and worked for the next three hours until Haruka stopped by with a hyper Manami to bring them lunch. The blond boy was a bit reluctant to stop working, but gave in when his stomach growled loud enough to scare Manami away. Rei was very impressed with the boy’s persistence and will to learn everything Rei was teaching him. It was only just lunch time and they had already gone through more than half of the alphabet; he was progressing at an alarming rate. Rei didn’t teach others often, and nothing to the extent of writing, but the boy was definitely the most determined student he had ever taught; it actually reminded Rei a bit of himself back when he was so determined to learn how to swim. This made Rei feel uneasy, however, since the end result was not a very good one.

He shook the memory away and bit into his sandwich as he looked over the boy’s work. It seemed his handwriting was really the only thing that needed improvement, which was to be expected. He laughed internally at the thought of his own ghastly handwriting as a child when he was learning too, and his was even worse.

He looked up from the papers and saw the boy had been enjoying his third sandwich and Rei was thankful that Haruka had brought a big plate-full, otherwise he feared the boy would just start eating the books. Rei shook his head; where did he even put it all?

By the end of lunch and the boy’s devourment of five total sandwiches _plus_ a bowl of baked potato crisps, Rei was convinced the boy’s stomach was indeed a black hole.

They got back to work as soon as they finished eating and Haruka offered to take the plates back to the kitchen. Haruka had always been like that too, he never really liked anyone doting on him and preferred to take care of himself 99 percent of the time; which Rei could completely relate to, though he gave in to the castle workers most of the time because it _was_ their job, after all.

They spent two more hours in the library and the boy was able to get through the remaining letters in the alphabet, as well as writing them down all together on one sheet of paper. The boy was pleased with his progress, and so was Rei, so he gave him the proper praise before shooting him a small smile and giving his shoulder a firm squeeze. The boy tensed up a bit and Rei thought he squeezed too hard and apologized, but the boy waved it off and turned his face away from him shyly.

It was silent a moment until Rei finally cleared his throat and informed the boy that they could finish up for the day and would start working on actual writing tomorrow. The boy turned excitedly to face him again, took a firm hold of his hands, and nodded happily. Normally, Rei would have been surprised by then sudden hand-grabbing even though the boy seemed to do it quite a lot, but he couldn’t help but look at the shimmer of delight in the shorter boy’s eyes and even momentarily lost himself in them.

Rei only snapped out of his daze once he felt the boy’s hands slide off of his and start to wave them in front of his face. He flinched back bit, and sputtered out another apology before quickly changing the subject to dinner, packing up his bag, and exiting the library for the evening. On the way back upstairs and to their rooms to wash up for dinner, the boy clung to the sleeve of his shirt…much to Rei’s _complete_ embarrassment.

He figured the boy only did it so he could keep himself from running off to admire everything like he had the day previous, but it still made Rei’s face feel like it was on fire. His face felt redder than his glasses, and surely this was not beautiful. He disappeared quickly into his room to splash some cold water onto his face once he had dropped the boy off at his own room. He looked at himself in the mirror, and his assumptions about his face looking as red as it felt were true.

He dried his face with a towel and fixed his hair as it had gotten wet in the splash. What had gotten into him? The blond could be a bit overwhelming, sure, but he was used to that kind of behavior because of his brother; but his brother never made him feel so flustered, which he was most thankful for, nor did anyone else he ever met. What was it about this boy that embarrassed him so much? Was it the skinship? The boy’s outstanding burst of energy at all times? The fact that he could probably eat an entire turkey by himself without question?

Rei thought back to when he had weakly opened his eyes to see the loveliest face he had ever seen before. It was still raining gently and that added to his already blurred vision due to the loss of his glasses in the explosion, but he was still able to make out the boy’s face. His light-colored hair contrasted with the dark of the storm and the night sky, and the pink of his eyes sparkled; he wasn’t sure if he was even alive in that moment because of how beautiful the sight was.

Rei fell back onto his bed and covered his face with the towel at the thought of the next thing that he remembered. He thought the boy was too beautiful to be real, so he thought he was an angel. And to think he had even said it out loud, not _only_ to the boy, but to his brother and Haruka as well. He flipped over on the bed to bury his face in a pillow. _Jeez, how utterly embarrassing._

The next few days were somewhat of a routine and Rei was happy for that since he liked things to be on a set schedule and was able to fall back into his morning runs again after a few days of absence. He would wake up before sunrise, run on the beach, bathe, dress, and then wake up the boy to start their lessons for the day.

He even had to get into the routine of fixing the boy’s hair because it was always so wild when he woke up in the mornings and the boy seemed to enjoy getting his hair brushed; that amused Rei, so he went with it…he even secretly enjoy it himself. It kind of worried Rei at first, however, since it had apparently never happened until he came here and he wondered if the boy was having bad dreams or not sleeping well, but then again it wasn’t really surprising considering how energetic the boy was; Rei could only imagine he was an extremely active sleeper.

The next few days of lessons went quite smoothly and the boy was progressing faster than Rei ever could have imagined. They first started off with some simple three-letter words like ‘mom’, and ‘cat’ and so on, and the boy had been able to write over 40 different words in one day as well as a few four-letter words thrown in there at his insistence. Rei was quite happy that the boy was so determined to learn as quickly as possible.

“I can’t wait until you’re able to write full sentences so I can learn more about you.” Rei mentioned during one of their first lessons. “It’d be nice to address you by your name.”

The boy nodded in agreement to Rei’s words, but as the week went on, Rei started to notice the boy seemed to get more frustrated with himself every time he would do something wrong. Rei would reassure him, of course, and he would seem fine in that moment, but he would still get down on himself the next time he messed up.

Near the end of the week, the boy seemed to be doing better, but he also seemed very tired and Rei wondered why. It was harder to get him up in the mornings and he was really grumpy and not as energetic throughout the day. The boy’s eating habits even seemed to have changed and he was only eating one serving of food at meals, if it was even a full serving at all. Rei was starting to get really worried that the boy was getting sick, but the boy denied it when Rei asked him about it.

During one particular lesson at the start of the second week, the boy did not only appear exhausted, but his attitude was the worst Rei had ever seen it before. He was grumpier than before and seemed to be ignoring Rei and fixated only on the worksheet for that day’s lesson that consisted of a list of adjectives longer than 5 letters; he was just so consumed in his lessons that he was oblivious to the world around him. Quite often, the boy would get irritated at himself when he spelled something wrong and would furiously erase it or cross it out, even though Rei did not think he was doing a bad job at all. Rei would try to encourage him, but the boy still ignored him.

When it was lunch time, the boy still concentrated on his work and wouldn’t take a break. Rei knew the boy was just extremely determined to work and learn as fast as he could, but it wasn’t good if he was neglecting his health for it, and Rei was becoming very concerned that the boy would over-exert himself.

Rei decided to put his foot down and snatched the pencil away from the boy’s hand and placed a lunch plate in front of him. “Please, take a break and eat something.”

The boy simply pushed the plate away and took the pencil back and continued to write.

“Excuse me, but I think you need to stop and _take a break_.” Rei pushed the plate in front of him again, but the boy still pushed it away. “Will you please stop being such a _brat_ and eat something?! You’re going to over work yourself!”

The boy suddenly looked up at Rei and the look on his face was heartbreaking, and Rei felt his stomach clench at the site, but the boy’s saddened expression disappeared quickly and was replaced with the brattiest pout he had ever seen and the boy took a harsh bite of his sandwich and then went back to writing.

The boy refused to go to dinner when Rei tried to collect him that evening, and he couldn’t help but feel extremely guilty that he probably had something to do with it. He was just worried about the boy’s well-being, he didn’t _want_ to snap at him. After dinner, and an hour or so of sulking in his room, Rei decided to go up to the boy’s room with some milk and a plate of cookies. He was normally against having such unhealthy snacks so late, but he felt like this was necessary.

“Hey,” Rei knocked. “It’s Rei. I know you’ve had a long day, but I brought you some sweets.” Rei stood there in silence for a time before speaking again. “I…I understand if you want to be left alone, I didn’t mean to snap at you earlier. I’m just a little worried, is all. You really _are_ progressing and you’re just being too hard on yourself.” Rei waited again and hoped for the boy to come to the door, but it never happened. “I…I’m coming in.” Rei carefully opened the door and peaked in to make sure he wasn’t accidentally walking in on him changing or something. He scanned the room and it seemed to be fine, so he opened the door all of the way and walked inside.

“I’m sorry for just coming in, I can just leave the cookies if you want.” Rei looked around the room, but it seemed to be empty. “H-hello?” He set the platter of cookies and glass of milk on the bedside table and searched the room, and he didn’t want to admit he felt his heart drop when he had checked every possible inch and couldn’t find him. He wasn’t here, and he couldn’t be in the bathroom either because Rei had passed the bathroom on his way over and it was empty. Rei started to panic a little bit and ran over to Haruka’s room.

“Haruka, have you seen our guest?”

“No. I haven’t seen him since you tried to get him to come to dinner. Why?”

“He’s not in his room, nor the bathroom.”

“Maybe he’s sneaking food from the kitchen.” Haruka mused.

“No, I don’t think that’s it. You don’t think he would just… _leave_ , do you?”

“Why would he do that? Where would he have to go?”

“Well, I got a little cross with him today because he’s been too hard on himself and he won’t take it easy with the lessons. He’s working too hard and trying to accomplish too much in such a short time. I understand that he wants to learn as quickly as possible, but he’s not taking his own well-being into consideration. He’s pushing himself to the point where he hasn’t been eating near as much during meals and he’s not as energetic as he was a week ago.”

Haruka put his finger to his chin in thought. “I might have an idea where he may be, but if not, I’ll help you look for him.”

“Thank you!”

The two boys started their search and Haruka led Rei straight to the library, and sure enough, there he was sitting at the table with papers spread all over the place and he was quietly copying words down from a dictionary. Rei breathed a sigh of relief, but also worry because the boy looked even more exhausted than earlier. There were bags under his eyes and he looked about ready to collapse at any moment. Rei thanked Haruka again and stepped inside while Haruka nodded and left to head back to his own room.

“Haruka thought you’d be here.” The boy jumped in surprise at the sudden break of the silence, but he relaxed right after and didn’t tear his eyes from his work. Rei sat down next to him. “Is this why you’ve been so exhausted the last few days? Because you’ve been sneaking in here at night to work?”

The boy didn’t look at Rei, but he guiltily nodded his head. “Maybe you should quit for the night, you’ve had a long day.” The boy didn’t respond this time and just kept writing furiously. Rei sighed and placed a hand on the boy’s to stop him from writing. “Please, you’re pushing yourself too hard, it’s…it’s worrying me. I don’t want you to end up over-exerting yourself to the point of collapse.” The boy remained still. “It worries me because it reminds me of myself when I was younger. I don’t know how to swim… I mean, obviously you know that, you had to save me from drowning…but it’s a family tradition and I was so ashamed of myself that I spent weeks studying every possible thing there was to know about swimming and it still didn’t work.

I ended up nearly drowning because I pushed myself too far. I know that writing really can’t put you into any danger like swimming, but over-working yourself like you’re doing can hurt you in a different way. You’re not eating as much as you usually do and you’re exhausted to the point that you’re not as energetic as before.” The boy relaxed his grip on the pencil he was holding. “You really don’t need to be so hard on yourself. I know you want to learn as quickly as possible, but we have time, you know. It’s not like you’re going anywhere.” They boy tensed up and took a firm grasp of the pencil again and tried to get back into writing furiously onto the paper.

Rei’s grip on the boy’s hand grew tighter. “Please, stop this! Please…” The boy continued to try to pry his hand free from Rei’s, but Rei didn’t give up and kept his firm grip. The boy eventually gave in, probably due to his exhaustion, and let the pencil fall from his hand. “Thank you.” Rei breathed. The boy sniffed and looked to Rei with teary eyes before falling onto his chest in a tight hug. Rei felt slightly awkward and warm at the contact, but eventually returned the embrace. “It’s okay, just…let it out. I’m not mad at you, I was just worried. I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier today.”

The boy continued to quietly sob into Rei’s chest for a few minutes until he finally calmed down and his breathing started to steady. “Feel better?” the boy looked up and nodded at Rei while wiping his eyes. “Good. Now let’s get you to bed, I brought you cookies earlier if you’d like to have those?” The boy smiled at him, and Rei was happy that it was a genuine one; it made his heart flutter. “Ah, there’s that smile.” The boy blushed lightly, and looked to the side. “Come on, then. Let’s get you those cookies.” They stood up from the chairs and Rei turned to the door of the library to leave. The boy followed but double-backed to get a piece of paper off of the table. “That’s not work you’re sneaking back to your room, is it?” Rei asked sternly. The boy shook his head innocently and walked over to give Rei the piece of paper.

He motioned for Rei to look at it, and he did so. The handwriting was a little hard to make out, but once Rei figured out what was scrawled messily onto the paper, it nearly made his heart skip a beat. On the piece of paper read ‘ _My name is Nagisa Hazuki._ ’

He looked to the boy…to _Nagisa_ with a look of disbelief, and then back to the paper and back to Nagisa again. “I-you…this is what you’ve been working so hard to do?” Nagisa nodded shyly, Rei laughed breathily. “You really _have_ been pushing yourself too hard, everything’s even spelt correctly.” Nagisa looked at the floor regretfully. “But…I’m really happy to know your name.” He looked at the piece of paper again. “Nagisa...” he breathed, it slipped passed his lips smoothly and nearly gave him shivers. His name was beautiful. “It really suits you.” He then took Nagisa’s hand in his own and shook it. “Nice to officially meet you, Nagisa.”

They walked back to Nagisa’s room and Nagisa sat on the bed while Rei handed him the plate of cookies. Nagisa gazed at the cookies in wonder for a few seconds before quickly devouring four in a matter of seconds. “Don’t eat too fast, now.” Rei scolded. “You’ll get a stomach ache before bed, and that would be miserable.” Nagisa then picked up a cookie very slowly and nibbled at it cautiously. Rei couldn’t help but laugh, which made Nagisa smile in return. Rei was happy the blond was starting to return to himself.

After nearly finishing the entire plate of cookies by himself, Nagisa yawned and his eyes started to flutter with sleep. “You’d better go brush your teeth before you pass out.” Nagisa nodded sleepily and left for the bathroom and was back five minutes later. “All clean?” Nagisa nodded. “Good, now let’s get you to bed. You need a good rest after working so hard.” Nagisa hopped into the bed and Rei helped tuck him in. Nagisa immediately took a pillow into his arms and snuggled against it, and Rei collected the platter of the remaining cookies and the empty milk glass and headed for the door. He looked to the boy who was smiling against his pillow before he smiled to himself. “Good night…Nagisa.” Rei turned off the light and left the room.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter comes with music! Indicated by the * 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wOS_bTfnFo
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AD6omp0t3E (I know this song is more modern and doesn't really fit in the time frame I had in mind, which is like late 1800s, I still thought this version fit well with the scene since it's a violin cover)

Nagisa opened his eyes and was immediately hit in the face with the sunlight coming through his window. He clenched them shut and rolled over while pulling the blanket over his face in aggravation. He settled back into bed, ready to fall back asleep, but unfortunately he could not since he already felt too awake. Annoyed, he rolled out of bed and stretched before getting up off of the bed completely and walking over to the mirror.

His hair was, yet again, a complete disaster and he laughed internally. Looks like he was doomed to it for the rest of his life…well, the rest of his life as a human anyway, that is unless he made the deadline. Which wasn’t looking too bad as of now, he and Rei were getting along really well so far and Nagisa was a little embarrassed to admit his crush on him was definitely growing stronger. Especially after last night.

Nagisa really _had_ been working too hard and he didn’t realize how bad it had gotten, he just wanted to learn faster so he could tell Rei his name and write full sentences because how could Rei ever fall in love with him if he didn’t even know his name?

Rei had been worried about him, though, and had wanted to help, and he wouldn’t stop until he knew Nagisa was okay. He even let him cry on his shoulder and let him eat cookies at midnight afterwards to help cheer him up. Rei barely even knew Nagisa a week and here he was working so hard to make sure he was happy; Rei was just…Rei was just so _wonderful_ that Nagisa couldn’t stop the hand gripped the top of his shirt and he smiled so wide his face just might end up permanently stuck like that.

Speaking of Rei, where was he anyways? He usually came _before_ Nagisa woke up…this was definitely a first. Nagisa didn’t even dress for the day when he decided to slip into the hallway while still in his pajamas and walk to Rei’s room. He knocked on the door and waited a few minutes, but there was no answer. Nagisa reached for the doorknob and started to turn it, but then realized it didn’t seem right to just suddenly go into Rei’s room like that, especially if he wasn’t there.

Nagisa opted on waiting a few more minutes and then headed to go to the dining hall when there was still no answer. He creaked open the door to find Rei, Haruka, and Rei’s brother sitting at the table eating breakfast.

“Oh, good morning, Nagisa.” Rei looked up from his book and smiled.

“Pfft ahahaha!” Rei’s brother started to laugh. “Wow, you weren’t kidding about that bed hair, Rei. It looks like Manami decided to make his head her permanent sleeping place!”

Rei slapped his brother’s shoulder. “Don’t laugh at him!”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. Your bed hair is _way_ worse anyways.” He ruffled Rei’s hair.

“Brother, stop! You’re messing up my hair!”

“Yeah, that’s the point.” He laughed and then went back to eating.

Rei had set down his book and tried to fix his hair. “Did you sleep well, Nagisa? You look well-rested.”

Nagisa nodded his head slowly and then pouted dramatically at him while crossing his arms.

“Wh-what’s that look for?”

If Rei was down here and awake then _why_ hadn’t he come to wake Nagisa up?! Nagisa waved his arms around to get the point across to Rei who actually somehow managed to understand what Nagisa was trying to say when he had pointed to Rei then to himself and mimicked a sleeping person.

“I didn’t want to wake you because you haven’t had a proper sleep in days, so I let you sleep in a little later today.”

Nagisa uncrossed his arms and let them fall to his sides and a small soundless “oh” formed on his lips. He smiled shyly and gave a thankful look to Rei and then took his usual spot at the table to have some breakfast.

“So, Nagisa...” Nagisa looked up from his plate with a mouthful of potatoes. “I was thinking, since you’ve been working really hard this past week, we should take the day off.”

Nagisa swallowed his food so fast it hurt and stood up from his seat and looked at Rei in disappointment. No, he couldn’t take a day off! Not now! He understood he was pushing himself too hard and that he needed to slow down but if he took a day off now he’d fall behind and—

“Now hear me out!” Rei interrupted Nagisa’s thoughts as if he had been reading them. “I know the last thing you want is a day off, but I really do think you need it. Taking a day off will be better for not only your body, but your mind as well. It’ll help your learning process in the long run.” Nagisa lowered himself back into his seat and broke eye contact with Rei. He knew he was right, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was losing precious time.

“Plus, I thought we could go to the village.” Nagisa suddenly looked back to Rei with a swift jerk of his head and his eyes lit up. “I mean, you’ve been here a week and a half already and haven’t left the castle, so it’ll be nice to get outside and have a look around, don’t you think?”

Nagisa was leaning so far over the table that he was almost laying in his food. His eyes were bright and he was the most excited he had been in days. The village! He’d finally get to see the village! Human items and food as far as the eye could see, interacting with the villagers, seeing how Rei interacted with the villagers, getting to spend an entire day with Rei that _wasn’t_ focused on studying. He smiled the brightest smile he could muster and he nodded excitedly.

Rei smiled back. “I thought you’d might like that.”

“Yeah, and then you can get your own clothes so you don’t have to borrow mine anymore.” Haruka chimed in, not taking his eyes off of his mackerel toast.

“Yes, and we can go to the tailor and get you some clothes as well. Would you like that?” Nagisa nodded again. “Alright, then we’ll go as soon as you’re done with your breakfast and—”

Nagisa leaned back into his chair and practically inhaled the rest of his food before speeding out of the dining hall to get dressed. He almost tripped running up the stairs, but they didn’t slow him down in the least and he just kept on running. Once he reached the bedroom, he haphazardly threw on some clothes without even bothering to close the door and he didn’t even look at himself in the mirror to check if he looked okay before running out of the room. He ran straight into Rei on the way out and almost fell over, but Rei took a hold of his arms to balance him.

“Goodness, Nagisa. Slow down, will you? We have all day to spend in the village, you know?” He chuckled. “You didn’t even button up your shirt correctly and your hair is still a mess. Let’s get you ready properly, alright?” Nagisa placed his hand on the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly before nodding and turning back into the room to sit down on the vanity chair.

Nagisa fixed the buttons on his shirt while Rei brushed out the mess that was his hair, and even though Rei had done this every day since he got here, Nagisa couldn’t help but blush and smile stupidly that Rei continued to do so without complaining once.

“You know, normally I’d say it’s about time you learned how to do this yourself,” Rei started, and Nagisa’s smile faded. It seems he spoke too soon. “But I find this has become a…a nice part of my morning. It...relaxes me for some reason.”

Nagisa looked up at Rei through the mirror and shared eye contact with him for a brief moment before Rei quickly jerked his gaze back at Nagisa’s hair and cleared his throat nervously.

“A-anyway…I hope you um, don’t mind?”

Nagisa smiled and shook his head. No, he definitely didn’t mind, in fact, he wouldn’t mind if Rei brushed out his hair in the mornings for the rest of his life! Nagisa looked away from the mirror and back down to his lap in embarrassment at the thought. He was extremely happy he couldn’t talk because he probably would have said that out loud and that would have been the most embarrassing thing ever.

Nagisa couldn’t stop bouncing with delight once they stepped outside of the castle and Rei led him to a small carriage that had a _horse_ attached to it. His eyes brightened and he nearly sprinted over to the magnificent animal to pet it softly along the neck. He’d seen old pictures of horses before and was excited to finally see one first hand.

“This is Kuri,” Rei spoke up. “Named for the color of her coat.” Rei climbed up onto the carriage and held out a hand for Nagisa to join him; Nagisa took it and settled in comfortably next to Rei as he took the reins and directed the horse out of the courtyard and down a cobblestone road that was lined with trees and flowers bushes.

It felt wonderful to finally be outside, Nagisa was so busy with working on his writing that he had only been able to see Makoto a few times; but even then, it was always late at night and Nagisa hadn’t been out during the day time hours since he arrived. He’d have to go see Makoto later tonight to tell him about his first time to the village.

“I’ve always enjoyed how peaceful and beautiful the ride is on the way to the village.” Rei spoke up again. “Definitely a huge difference from the village itself. While it _is_ beautiful, it definitely isn’t peaceful in the least.” He let out a small laugh. “So I’m sure you’ll fit right in.” Nagisa gaped at him and gave a good-natured shove into his shoulder. “Hey, hey. That was a compliment, you know?”

Nagisa folded his arms and pouted before giving Rei a side glance and a playful smile. Rei smiled back and then fixed his eyes back onto the road.

They ascended up a hill and the view once they reached the top was incredible. Nagisa was able to see the village in its entirety from this single spot. There were golden fields that rested before the entrance and cute squat houses and buildings spaced neatly together with the exception of a few taller buildings.

Nagisa was so enthralled with the sight that he hadn’t noticed they were getting closer and he hung on the edge of his seat once they entered so he could take everything in. There were many people walking around casually, going about their daily lives and Nagisa couldn’t help but wave at everyone. Some people raised their brows at him at first, but politely waved back anyways; many said good morning to “his highness” and bowed as the carriage went by and Rei waved back politely to all who had greeted him.

“My brother and I make frequent visits to the village.” Rei mentioned once the carriage slowed to a stop in a small lot with a stable. “Our parents taught us that it was important to get to know our people so we can be proper rulers. I don’t like interacting with others much, but I think I’m getting better at it.” He stepped off the carriage and held out his hand to Nagisa once again to help him off. “Alright, I figured we could go to the tailor first and get you measured so we can explore for the rest of the day and come back to pick up your clothes before we leave.”

Nagisa nodded and took Rei’s arm in his. Rei paused a moment to push up his glasses before he led Nagisa out into the square and to a small shop not too far from where they left the carriage. Rei opened the door to a bright but chilly room with a middle-aged women sitting behind a desk and smoking a pipe as she read papers that were spread all over the place. She looked up at the sound of the entrance bell and gave a crooked smile.

“Well, good mornin’, Prince Rei!” she set down her pipe and stood up to give a quick bow before walking over to the two of them. “Good to see ya this mornin’, what can I do for ya today?”

“Good morning, Ayako. I need some clothes.”

“Well, I gathered that. Why else would ya come in here?” She laughed. “Unless ya actually came in to just say hi to an old friend?”

“It _is_ always nice to see you, and I do need to visit more often; but yes, I need clothes for my friend here.” He motioned to Nagisa. “This is Nagisa, he’s the boy who saved me from drowning last week and he has been staying as a guest in the castle. He’s been borrowing Haruka’s clothes, so we figured it was about time he got some of his own.”

Ayako looked in Nagisa’s direction and stared him down with a thoughtful expression. “Wow, ya sure are a handsome one, aren’t ya?” Nagisa looked away and blushed; she smiled at him and took Nagisa’s hands in hers and pulled him further into the room and placed him on a short stool in front of a tall mirror. “Go ahead and sit down, Prince Rei. I’ll be takin’ his measurements.”

Ayako hummed as she took a white strip of something with numbers on it out of her pocket and prompted Nagisa to lift up his arms. She maneuvered around him with utmost precision and made small conversation with Nagisa.

“You’re the first person I’ve ever seen Prince Rei spend time with on his own. He normally doesn’t like to be around people, so it’s nice to see he has someone to keep him company. Lord knows the boy needs it; he always seems so lonely when I see him, but he looked happy when he walked in. I hope I’m not wrong to assume that’s because of such a cutie like ya.” She smiled up at him after measuring the inside of his leg and Nagisa nervously placed a hand behind his neck and looked away with a shy smile.

“Where did ya come from, anyways?” Nagisa, obviously, did not answer and glanced awkwardly to the front of the shop where Rei was sitting and reading a paper. He glanced back to Ayako who was staring at him and waiting for him to answer. “He’s a quiet one, isn’t he?” she yelled to the front after a moment of pure silence. “He hasn’t said a word this entire time and now he’s even too shy to answer a question.”

“Nagisa can’t talk, I’m afraid.” Rei yelled back, not looking away from his paper.

“O-oh.” Ayako glanced back to Nagisa. “I’m sorry, dear. I hope I haven’t offended ya.” Nagisa shook his head and waved his hands in front of his chest. “Oh good, sometimes I say stupid things, so I apologize in advance for that.” She stood up. “Alright, all done with the measurements.” She walked back over to her desk and Nagisa followed. “So, just some simple day clothes?” She asked when Rei had walked over as well.

“Ah, yes.” Rei replied with a hand to his glasses.

“Alright then.” Ayako jotted down some notes. “I’ll be checking my collections, so come back later this evening before I close and I’ll let ya know if I have anything ready-made. If not, I’ll whip something up for ya, though it may take a few days.”

“That’ll be no problem. We’ve been staying inside mostly anyways. I’m teaching Nagisa how to write.”

“Oh, how wonderful! Let me know when he can write out full sentences so we can chat.”

Nagisa nodded, Rei thanked Ayako, and they left the shop. “Well now that that’s over with,” Rei turned to face Nagisa. “Where would you like to go?”

Nagisa wasn’t expecting Rei to ask him, but had expected Rei to have some sort of schedule planned out. Nagisa smiled brightly, took a hold of Rei’s arm and pulled him in a random direction. Nagisa had absolutely no clue where he was going, but he figured the spontaneity of the moment would be fun. On the way to their unknown destination, Nagisa stopped to wave politely at the passing villagers, pet cute animals that has passed by, and looked in windows of shops before eventually dragging Rei inside to have a look around. He didn’t buy anything even though Rei offered to, Nagisa really was content with just looking at all the interesting trinkets he came across.

They eventually made their way to the center square where Nagisa saw a group of kids gathered near some sort of booth. Nagisa pulled Rei in that direction and stopped right behind the sitting group of children when a curtain in the small booth opened and the children cheered. Toy dolls made their way into the center of the booth and moved about inanely and even _spoke_ in funny voices. Confused, Nagisa looked up to Rei.

“It’s a puppet show.” Rei answered, though Nagisa still looked confused. “Dolls that are operated by people behind the booth to act out a show. Have you never seen one before?” Nagisa shook his head and stared back at the booth. The show was really silly and the plot was simple, but it made Nagisa smile childishly.

Once the show was over Nagisa took Rei’s arm in his again and pulled him in another direction. Throughout the day, the two of them had went to a small petting zoo where Nagisa could pet as many fuzzy, cute animals as his heart so desired, and beautiful fountain in one of the squares where you could toss a coin in to make a wish; Nagisa wished to learn to write faster so he could finally have a conversation with Rei. Rei made a wish too, but he said he wasn’t allowed to tell or else it wouldn’t come true.

It started to get a little hot as the sun grew higher in the sky and they stopped for a bit of lunch. Nagisa was still hungry afterwards, but he didn’t want to look rude and eat three helpings. His stomach growled as they walked and Rei smiled down at him.

“Not still hungry, are you?” Nagisa nodded ruefully. “I figured as much. You looked like you were holding back. Here,” Rei led him to a small building that had a line in front of an open window. “How about some ice cream?” _Ice cream?_ The word seemed really familiar to Nagisa, though he couldn’t quite remember what it was so he merely just shot Rei another confused expression. “Have you not had ice cream either?” Nagisa shook his head. “And here I thought _I_ never got out.” He laughed. “I don’t eat it much, but come on, you’ll love it.”  

They waited in a line for a few minutes before they finally made it up to the front. “You like strawberry, right?” Now strawberry was something Nagisa knew. He fell in love with the taste ever since he had strawberry syrup on his pancakes that first morning. He nodded happily and Rei turned back to the man in the window. “One strawberry, please.”

“Right away, your highness.” The man handed the treat to Rei in a flash and Rei placed a coin on the window sill and handed the treat to Nagisa.

“Here you go.” Nagisa stared at it in awe and looked up to Rei with another confused expresion. How was he supposed to eat this? “You lick it.” Rei prompted.

Nagisa looked back to the treat and tasted it; his eyes lit up instantly and he looked to Rei in excitement and then back to the treat; it was even more delicious than the syrup! He smiled slyly and started ravishing the treat in front of him.

“Not too fast, now. You’ll get a headache.” Rei warned while patting Nagisa softly on the shoulder. Nagisa heeded Rei’s warning and slowed down his eating as they walked around the village at a slower pace. Nagisa finished his treat not too long after and smiled up at Rei.

Rei sighed and took a handkerchief out of his pocket. “You have some on your face, goodness.” Rei placed the cloth to Nagisa’s mouth and wiped up the mess; Nagisa felt his face heat up in an instant at the contact and could only hope Rei was too focused on cleaning up to notice. Nagisa wanted to look away, but he noticed the serious expression Rei had on his face and could have laughed, but he settled for a wide smile instead.

Rei’s eyes met with Nagisa’s for a brief moment, but he blushed and looked away so fast his neck cracked quietly. He placed the handkerchief back into his pocket and adjusted his glasses and spoke so rapidly Nagisa almost didn’t quite catch what he said. “There! All better now. Shall we continue on?”

Nagisa smirked at Rei, but nodded all the same and took his arm again to lead him around. Most of the places they passed, they had already been to and that made Nagisa sad, because that meant they were running out of places to go. *They made their way into the center square again and instead of a puppet show, there was something else going on that made Nagisa stop dead in his tracks.

There was festive music playing and Nagisa stared in awe as he watched a group of couples stand up to join in on the fun. They moved together to the sound of the music and Nagisa’s breath caught in his throat; they were dancing.

Nagisa was so happy he could have cried, they were _dancing_! Dancing was at the top of his list of things he wanted to do if he ever had the chance to become human and there he was, standing with the opportunity right in front of him. He stared in awe at the way each couple moved together, how their movements synced and did not sync with the melody most likely depending on their skill level. A few more couples joined in as they stood there, so Nagisa was sure it was an open thing for anyone who wanted to join.

Rei cleared his throat and broke the trance Nagisa was in, and he slid his arm out from Nagisa’s grip and held his palm in front of him. “From that very mesmerized look on your face, I-I assume you would like to dance?” Nagisa stared completely stunned at the palm right in front of him before he looked to Rei who had his face turned to the side with a brilliant blush across his cheeks. Nagisa didn’t even nod and just smiled widely at Rei before taking his hand and pulling him into the crowd.

Nagisa took both of Rei’s hands once they made their way to a good spot and he started moving around aimlessly, obviously not knowing what he was doing since this was not the kind of dancing he was used to.

“Waa, N-Nagisa! St-stop, stop! That is _not_ how—Nagisa! This is not beautiful at all!” Nagisa stopped suddenly when Rei pulled away from him to adjust his glasses. “Here, I’ll _show_ you.” Rei took Nagisa’s left hand and placed it on his shoulder, wrapped his right hand around Nagisa’s waist, albeit nervously, and took Nagisa’s other hand in his. “Now, follow my lead.” Rei started moving his feet back and forth and Nagisa shyly followed.

“One, two, three, one, two, three.” Rei repeated a few times before he got the hint that Nagisa understood the tempo and stopped saying it. “Good, now you’re getting it.” Rei smiled, his nervousness seeming to melt away as he loosened up his posture.

Nagisa was getting the hang of it rather quickly, so he didn’t need to stare at his feet anymore. He looked up at Rei who seemed startled by the sudden eye contact, but he didn’t look away, even though he looked like he’d die of embarrassment if he didn’t. Nagisa started to get a little nervous the longer he looked at Rei, and now he understood why Emi hadn’t looked at his face when they shared that dance at his party weeks and weeks ago.

“I-I’m going to spin you, so prepare yourself.” Rei sputtered out. Nagisa shot Rei another confused look but was suddenly pushed away from Rei’s body, though Rei still held onto his hand, and he twisted it around for Nagisa to go under it and to ‘spin’ as Nagisa could only guess that this was somehow the same as spinning in the dances they had back home. It seemed his guess was correct when Rei smiled and pulled Nagisa back in to wrap his arm around his waist again.

“Very good. Sorry if that was a little sudden, I just felt the urge…heh.” Nagisa smiled back at Rei and they continued their dance and Nagisa was happy when Rei threw a few more spins in there; it was nice to see Rei be a little more spontaneous.

They were really getting into it and some of the couples around them stopped their own dancing to watch them, but Nagisa barely noticed and just lost himself in the dance.

The song started to slow and eventually ended, but the two of them kept dancing through the second song since they had joined in a little late. *The second song was slower, so they kept closer together the entire time and Nagisa hoped Rei wouldn’t notice how red his face was getting, but he felt better when he saw Rei’s face was red as well. Nagisa gradually became more comfortable as the song went on, and now he couldn’t tear his gaze away from Rei.

It had been a while since Nagisa actually got a good look at Rei, in fact, the last time Nagisa remembered looking this closely at him was when he saved him from drowning that night; though back then, his eyes were closed and he didn’t have his glasses on. Nagisa loved how beautiful the red of his glasses complimented the purple of his eyes and the blue of his hair tied them all together. His entire color scheme was very analogous, and it suited him well. It actually reminded Nagisa of that butterfly brooch and he wondered if that was why he brought it with him, because it had subconsciously reminded him of Rei. He’d have to go look at it again when they went back home.

Nagisa pulled himself out of his thoughts and focused back on Rei’s face to see Rei’s eyes slightly lidded and staring directly into Nagisa’s eyes. The sudden rush of nervousness was overwhelming and Nagisa’s face heated up instantly and he had to tear his gaze away because it was simply too much.

Nagisa took a deep breath and looked back to face Rei, but unfortunately, the song had ended and Rei snapped out of his gaze and reluctantly pulled away from Nagisa. “It’s…it’s getting late, we should probably uh…head back to Ayako’s…” Nagisa nodded sadly, but took Rei’s arm again and let him lead them back to the tailor’s shop.

“Oh good, I was beginnin’ to think ya had forgotten.” Ayako laughed when the two boys entered her shop and walked up to her desk. “Luckily, I have a collection of outfits in the back that would fit his figure just beautifully. If you’ll follow me, ya can come try them on to see what ya like.” Nagisa nodded and followed Ayako to the back and tried on some outfits. These were definitely more fitting than the clothes Haruka had lent him, and he smiled at how nice they looked on him as he looked into the mirror.

“Was I right, or was I right?” Ayako chimed as she admired Nagisa’s current outfit. “This one’ll definitely knock ‘em dead!” She winked at Nagisa’s befuddled expression and left the room bring Rei back to see. In the end, Rei bought him six new outfits and they bid Ayako farewell before heading back to the stable to pick up their horse to head back to the castle.

The ride back was quiet, but comfortable, and Nagisa admired the sunset as the carriage slowly drove up the road. Once Nagisa was able to see the castle in full is when Rei broke the silence.

“I had a really nice time today.” Nagisa looked away from the view and to Rei instead. His eyes were focused on the road, but they were soft and matched the smile that must have formed on his face a while ago. This really was the most Nagisa had seen Rei smile, and he didn’t ever want him to stop; if only he could tell him how much he loved seeing his smile. “I’ve never been so spontaneous in town before, or _anywhere_ for that matter, but it was a nice change. I don’t think I could have ever done it on my own, though. You were able to give me the push that I needed.”

Nagisa blinked at him a few times, surprised by his words.

“So…thank you.” Rei looked away from the road for a split second to give Nagisa a proper glimpse of that smile and Nagisa could have melted there on the spot. He was glad Rei focused back on the road because Nagisa’s face must be glowing red right now.

 He kept his gaze ahead of him and admired the way the colors from the sunset reflected off of the light-colored walls of the castle. The day really _had_ been amazing. Not only did he get to see what real human life was like and interact with people and even get to fulfill a dream he’s had for a while, but he also got to spend it with Rei, and that’s what made the day perfect. He sighed contently to himself and lost himself in the sunset; he couldn’t wait to get back and tell Makoto all about his perfect day.


	10. Chapter 9

Art by [juniperarts](http://juniperarts.tumblr.com/post/87038434943/happy-birthday-quidditchchick004-i-hope-it-was) on tumblr

* * *

 

 

Nagisa waited nervously in front of Rei’s door, fist hovering over it again, trying to make up his mind on whether or not he should knock. Today he woke up earlier than usual, before the sunrise, because decided that he wanted to join Rei on his morning run; but he wasn’t sure exactly what time Rei normally woke up, which was why he was so hesitant to knock on it.

Nagisa finally opted to sit down and wait, but thankfully he only had to wait about ten more minutes before the door opened and Rei stepped out, nearly stepping on Nagisa in the process.

“Arrgh, Nagisa!” Rei almost fell over trying to avoid stepping on him. “What on earth are you doing down there?! I could have hurt you!”

Nagisa stood up in a scramble and looked at Rei sheepishly to apologize. He handed Rei a small piece of paper that had the word ‘running’ written on it.

“Running? Does this mean you want to run with me?” Nagisa nodded. “Really? I…I would love that!” Rei said a little too enthusiastically, which made Nagisa giggle internally. “I mean, ahem, I always run alone, so, it’ll be nice to have someone to accompany me. Though,” Rei pinched the fabric of Nagisa’s shirt. “These clothes aren’t really proper for running, you would be rather uncomfortable in them if you tried to stretch in them.” Rei led Nagisa back to his room. “Oh right, I didn’t buy you any outfits for running, I’ll be right back.”

Rei left the room and came back a few minutes later with a small bundle of clothing. “Luckily Haruka is a morning person.” He laughed and handed the bundle to Nagisa. “Next time we go to the village, I’ll get you running clothes, yeah?”

Nagisa nodded and proceeded to unbutton his shirt; suddenly, Rei flushed and turned towards the door. “I’ll…be right outside.” Nagisa smiled to himself and flushed as well; Rei always got flustered at moments like these.

Just the other day he walked in on Nagisa undressing for the bath and the noise that came out of Rei’s mouth sounded similar to that of a dying whale, which isn’t an exaggeration, Nagisa _knew_ what they sounded like, and Rei’s face was so red it looked like he could burst into flames at any moment. He had apologized, slammed the door, and ran away.

Once Nagisa finished dressing, he got Rei to brush out his hair and the two of them left for the beach. Nagisa was hopping with excitement and ended up running ahead of Rei and enjoy the fresh air and the light breeze. He hadn’t been outside during the day since their trip to the village the week before and he couldn’t wait to see the sunrise.

“Nagisa?” Nagisa jumped at the familiar voice and looked down to see Makoto floating by the shore with a concerned look on his face. “Is everything all right? I don’t normally see you at this time, and this is usually when Rei—”

Nagisa waved his hands around and hurriedly put his finger to his mouth to make Makoto shush. Makoto seemed confused, but he shut up anyways. His gaze moved past Nagisa and he mouthed an ‘oh’ before rushing back underneath the water as to not be seen. Nagisa turned around and saw Rei approaching him; he didn’t look like he had seen anything, thankfully.

“That’s right, you haven’t been on the beach since that day we met, huh?” Rei asked once he reached Nagisa.

Nagisa shook his head. He obviously had, but he hadn’t been out on the beach during the _day_ since then.

“It is really beautiful out here in the mornings. That’s why I like to run at this time, so I can watch the sunrise.” Rei looked at the horizon where the sun should be rising soon. “It’ll be nice to have someone to share it with.” Rei coughed. “Anyway…um, ready to start?”

Nagisa smiled and nodded and watched Rei set his bag down near the rock that he sometimes sat on to rest.

“Okay, so have you ever done any running before?” Nagisa shook his head. “Never? Well, the first thing you need to know is that you should stretch before running or else you might pull a muscle if you’re not used to using it. Have you done _any_ sort of sport before?”

Nagisa pondered the question for a moment, he had tried a few sports before when he was little, but it was never for very long, so he didn’t think those counted. He shook his head again.

“Ah, I see. Well, just follow my lead and you should be fine. Now,” he clapped his hands together. “Stretching is very important, _especially_ for beginners; if you don’t do it properly, you can injure yourself. Don’t go too fast, or overdo it. If you start to feel pain, hold back, stretching has to be a gradual thing. Now, first we must stretch our calves and lower back…”

Nagisa happily followed Rei’s lead and began the first stretch. He actually wished he knew about this when he was learning how to walk because it seems like it would have been very helpful. They had stretching back home, of course, but it was approached very differently. Their fins were pretty flexible to begin with and Nagisa didn’t know much about human anatomy, but it didn’t seem nearly as flexible as the anatomy of merpeople.

They moved onto the next set of stretches and Rei started stretching his arms and upper back. Nagisa gulped at the sight of Rei’s muscles and had to snap himself out of his stare to continue or else he might be caught.

Once they were finished with their stretches, Rei gave a few simple instructions, and they were soon ready to start the run. Nagisa’s heart was beating really fast and they hadn’t even started yet. Running was the very thing Nagisa had come up to the surface to watch Rei do, and now he was going to be running _with_ him. It was so surreal, he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it.

Rei looked to Nagisa and the blond readily gave a nod for them to start. Rei smiled in return and looked ahead. “Ready…set…go!” The two boys sprinted forwards and Nagisa was happy his form didn’t feel near as sloppy as it had that first time he tried running a few weeks ago, thanks to those walking skills he had recently perfected.

 The wind felt nice against his face and although he wasn’t running nearly as fast or as flawless as Rei, the feeling was exhilarating and Nagisa was a little sad he hadn’t joined Rei in his morning runs from the start. He would definitely have to ask if he could join him from now on.

Rei reached a certain point in the sand and shouted back to Nagisa that they were going to turn around. Nagisa slowed up a bit and turned as Rei had, though not as precisely; but he managed to do it without falling over, and that was enough for him.

They continued the cycle once more, this time Rei ran slower so he could run side-by-side with Nagisa, and Rei started to chat with him.

“It really _is_ nice to have company. Sometimes my brother joins me, but he usually brings Manami and plays with her instead of running. Haruka has even tried to join me, but he always ends up in water instead.” Rei laughed. “Haruka really loves swimming, he usually comes out here to swim before lunch.”

Nagisa nearly fell over upon hearing about Haruka swimming out here every day, but then he remembered that Makoto always left around lunch time to hunt for food. He wondered what would happen if Haruka ever ran into Makoto. He didn’t really seem the type to attack, but Nagisa still worried nonetheless.

The two of them then stopped for break, and Nagisa was actually quite out of breath; Rei was as well, though it wasn’t as obvious. Rei reached for his canteen and handed it to Nagisa. Nagisa took it and hastily swigged at the water for a few seconds. He hadn’t noticed how dry his throat was, and was thankful for the cool feel of the water. He handed the canteen back to Rei and Rei took a generous sip as well before setting his canteen back down next to his bag.

“You doing okay? Would you be up for a few more laps?”

Nagisa was a bit tired, but he was sure he could keep going. He nodded and wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead. He took a few more deep breaths and was ready to start again, but he noticed it was getting lighter, so he turned his head and saw the sun rising. Nagisa brightened up and sat in the sand to watch; it didn’t take long for Rei to join him.

They sat there in silence and watched the sunrise together. It was really warm and it made Nagisa happy; not just because of the warmth, but also from sitting here and sharing it with Rei. He snuck a glance at the blue-haired boy, who was wearing a content expression and taking slow, deep breaths. Nagisa ran his hands over the sand and enjoyed the soft, grainy texture against his fingers. Eventually, he glanced down at his hand and noticed just how close it was to Rei’s. He flushed slightly and moved his hand to his lap instead.

Nagisa had just recently started doing stuff like that, too. He _wanted_ stuff like accidental hand touching to happen, but any time a situation like that presented itself, Nagisa always got so embarrassed and prevented it from happening. He didn’t mind his usual skinship like clinging on to Rei and such, but he usually was the one to initiate those kinds of things. If something accidental happened, Nagisa wouldn’t be prepared for it at all.

He talked to Makoto about it, and Makoto suggested that Nagisa’s feelings for Rei were just growing stronger and that made Nagisa just want to bury himself in the sand and never come out. He never felt this deeply about anyone before, and it was definitely starting to show.

Nagisa decided to sneak another glance at Rei only to discover he was staring at him. Rei noticed Nagisa’s gaze almost immediately and suddenly became extremely interested in the laces on his shoes. Nagisa looked away to hide the huge blush that formed on his face and then heard Rei stand up a few seconds later.

“Well,” Rei cleared his throat. “That was a nice break, huh? Want to get started on the next set of laps?”

Nagisa nodded and stood up to ready himself for the run. Even though he was tired from the first set of laps, he felt more energized and started running with a faster pace, fast enough to even pass Rei.

Rei laughed and caught up to him “Feeling a little bold now, are we?”

Nagisa grinned wryly and picked up his pace even more; Rei caught up easily.

“Don’t try to pick a race with a professional, Nagisa. You won’t win!” Rei teased. But this only encouraged Nagisa more and he stuck his tongue out at Rei and picked up the pace again. “Oh, it is _on_.”

Rei caught up again, but this time instead of matching Nagisa’s pace, he passed right by him and looked back with a sly grin. Nagisa scrunched up his face into a pout and tried to catch up, but he felt like he already reached his speed limit.

Rei reached the point of the turn and flew past Nagisa once again. Nagisa didn’t even bother running the rest of the way to the turn point, and just turned around right there to catch up.

“Hey, you cheater! You can’t do that!” Rei yelled back at Nagisa, but there was no sign of annoyance in his tone. Nagisa moved his feet as fast as he could, but Rei was already nearing the other end of the beach and he skidded to a stop a few seconds later. Nagisa pouted, but it was all in good fun; he hadn’t expected to win anyways.

Rei turned around to face Nagisa and had the most triumphant smile on his face. Nagisa smiled back and used the last of his energy to sprint as fast as he could the rest of the way. He was nearly to Rei, but he was going so fast that he felt like he lost control and suddenly couldn’t remember how to stop.

“Whoa, whoa, Nagisa. You should probably slow down. N-Nagisa! Slow down, you’re gonna hurt yourself—aaarrrgh!”

Rei didn’t get out of the way in time and Nagisa crashed full force into him and they both flew backwards. Nagisa clenched his eyes shut and felt Rei’s arms tighten around him before they landed on the ground with a thud and a loud groan from Rei.

Nagisa opened his eyes after a second of stillness and looked down at Rei who was, obviously, now underneath him; Rei’s eyes were clenched shut too.

“Are you okay?” Rei groaned before opening his eyes.

Nagisa nodded and wanted to ask if _he_ was okay since he was the one to break Nagisa’s fall. Rei must have understood Nagisa’s expression, though, because he quickly responded by saying he was okay as well. Rei looked up at Nagisa’s head and then started laughing.

“Well, now _that_ was quite the adventure, wasn’t it? You should see how much sand you have in your hair.”

Nagisa grinned back at Rei and joined him by laughing silently. He shook his head and sand flew off of it in every direction.

“Hey, don’t get it all over me!”

Nagisa made a face and gestured his hands to Rei’s own hair as it had already been covered in sand. Nagisa then picked up a handful of sand and dumped it all over Rei’s head.

“Ahh, N-Nagisa! Why you little—” He took a hold of Nagisa’s shoulders and rolled him over so that he was now on top. He gathered his own handful of sand and spilled it all over Nagisa. “Haha, revenge!”

Nagisa couldn’t even be annoyed and just smiled widely up at Rei who was still laughing quite boisterously. After a few seconds passed, the laughter died down and the only sounds were those of the waves hitting the shore and their breathing. Rei was staring down at Nagisa, staring straight into his eyes, and Nagisa could only do the same when he looked at Rei.

Rei’s smile had long since faded, but there was nothing about his face that wasn’t happy and content in this moment. Rei’s breathing hitched a bit and he swallowed hard, looking as though he was going to move up from his position at any moment, but he never did.

Nagisa watched as Rei’s face gradually moved closer to his own, and he feared Rei would feel how fast his heart was pounding. A blush creeped across Nagisa’s face; this was one of those accidental moments and he was right, he was _not_ prepared, but moving away was the last thing he wanted. His breathing started to quicken and he didn’t know what to do other than try to relax. He titled his face up a tad, and lidded his eyes slowly, almost closing them.

“There you are.” Nagisa’s eyes shot open and Rei jumped off of Nagisa faster than he had been running all morning; Nagisa looked up to see Haruka standing by the walk way. “Normally you finish your run before breakfast is ready, but now I can see why you’re a little late.” He motioned to Nagisa.

“That was…we _fell_!” Rei sputtered out, face redder than a crab.

“Okay. So, come up for breakfast soon or I’ll have to eat alone with the two loudest men in the kingdom.”

Nagisa sat up with a pout on his face as Haruka turned back toward the walkway. Was that a smile Nagisa saw? He shook his head and more sand flew off of it. Rei offered him a hand to help him up.

“I um…sorry about that. The sand, I mean. I guess I got a little carried away.” Nagisa waved his arms in front of him to say it was alright and Rei gathered his bag before they finally left the beach for the castle. Rei didn’t say anything to Nagisa, nor did he even look his way the entire trip up the path and to the dining hall.

“Jeez, you two have a sand wrestling match or something?” Rei’s brother laughed as they walked through the doors.

Rei chuckled. “Something like that. We would have cleaned up, but seeing as breakfast is ready, we don’t want it to get cold.”

“Tch, figures you do something fun and interesting when _I’m_ not there.” His brother complained, but said nothing more on the subject and just continued eating his eggs.

 

* * *

 

 

After finishing breakfast, Rei and Nagisa went upstairs to clean up and Rei made absolutely sure to drop Nagisa off at the _guest_ bathroom after what happened last time; he shook the thought and the blush away and headed towards his own bathroom.

He turned on the tub and shook off before stepping into the water in order to minimize the amount of sand that would collect in the bath. He set his glasses in their normal spot on a stool beside the tub and relaxed into the water. He laid his head back and sighed. Normally he took baths rather quickly and he never took much time to relax like Haruka did, but he felt like he needed it today.

Just what _was_ that down at the beach? Rei couldn’t deny it was the most fun he has ever had during a run because having company was always nice, and he couldn’t have asked for a better person than Nagisa, but…what exactly had he tried to do?

One moment they were smiling and laughing, well… _he_ was laughing, but Nagisa looked like he was laughing on the inside…anyways! One moment they were laughing and wrestling around, something Rei had not enjoyed doing in such a long time, and then the next they were just… _staring;_ staring right at each other without breaking eye contact. Rei’s heart had started to beat really fast and his face felt hot again and all he wanted to do was jump away, but he didn’t. He did the complete _opposite_ of that!

He had felt himself moving closer to the blond and had every intention of…no. No! He was _not_ thinking about _kissing_ him. He submerged in the water of the tub to try and wash the thought out of his head. What was he thinking? He only knew the boy for a few weeks and that would not have been appropriate behavior at all to do something so imprudent.

He admitted that Nagisa _did_ do something to him, how he always made him feel flustered and how his face would feel on the brink of combustion whenever he made physical contact with him, but that shouldn’t mean anything. That’s just how Nagisa was; he was a touchy-feely person and Rei knew that.

Yet, every time he saw the boy he still couldn’t stop his stomach from churning or stop those smiles that he had recently become so accustomed to. He lifted his head out of the water and sat up to towel off his face. His hand subconsciously reached up to his chest and he left it there to feel his heart pounding underneath it.

Why did he feel this way? Didn’t these kind of things normally take more time? He didn’t even know anything about the boy; where he came from, what his hobbies were, what his family was like, if his family even knew he was with Rei…the list went on.

He didn’t blame Nagisa, of course, the blond was _just now_ starting to write short sentences. He still had a ways to go before he could write up anything with that kind of detail; but with how determined Nagisa was to learn, Rei was sure he wouldn’t hesitate to tell Rei all about himself.

Rei soaped up, rinsed off, and got out to dry off. That’s all he needed to do; just wait to learn more about Nagisa and see what his feelings are doing after that. He would _not_ make any rash decisions like that again. The last thing he wanted to do make Nagisa uncomfortable because there was no way Nagisa had similar feelings…right?

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa’s three sisters met up with Hyosuke in front of their father’s throne room like they had done every time before reporting what they found…or in every time before, what they _didn’t_ find. The eldest sister was the first to speak. “Did you find anything?”

The merorca sighed and shook his head sadly. “Nothing.”

The mermaid’s hopeful eyes fell and she sighed too. “We didn’t find anything either.”

“We even double and triple checked!” piped up the youngest of the three.

The middle sister nodded in agreement. “We even looked in places Nagisa never had any desire to go.”

“I’m sorry, we’re all trying the best we can.” Hyosuke said sadly.

“I know you are.” The eldest placed a hand on his shoulder. “And we are so thankful for your help. We wouldn’t be able to cover as much water without the help of you and your guard.”

“I guess we should probably report to your father then.”

“Do I _have_ to go with you this time?” the middle sister asked in a small voice. “I can’t bear to see Daddy get upset again. He gets worse every time we tell him we haven’t found them.”

“Please come with us, we all have to be there for him…even if it’s difficult.” the eldest sister said.

“Okay.” She sniffed. “I’ll come.”

Hyosuke reluctantly opened the doors and the four of them swam in, trying their best not to look too miserable. The King was pacing back and forth with his head lowered to the ground; he perked up once he heard the door open and he rushed to them.

“Well?”

Hyosuke hesitated, not wanting to tear away the hopeful look in the King’s eyes. “I’m sorry, your majesty. We still haven’t found them.”

As expected, the King’s expression fell and he turned away from the group. His shoulders stiffened and you could tell he was using every fiber of his being to not break down right there. It took him a few minutes to compose himself and he turned back to them.

“Gather your guard and go out again…immediately.”

“Your majesty…”

“Do it! I don’t want you to stop until my son and Makoto are found!”

“Dad!” the eldest yelled. “Can’t you see they’re exhausted? They’ve been searching nonstop for days. They need to rest. We’ll never find Nagisa if everyone is on the verge of collapsing.”

A suddenly look of horror crossed the King’s face as he realized the horrible thing he was asking of his captain, and his face fell into his hands. “I know, I’m sorry, I know that. Go, Hyosuke. Go get food, rest. Make sure everyone is fully rested before you head out again.”

Hyosuke sighed in relief. “Thank you, your majesty.” He bowed and left the throne room looking the happiest he had been in weeks.

As soon as he left, the King broke down and started crying harshly.

“Dad!” the three daughters rushed to their father’s side.

“What have I done? I pushed Nagisa away and now we can’t find him. What if he’s hurt? What if something horrible has happened and that’s why we can’t find him?!”

“No, Dad. Don’t say that! Nagisa is fine!” cried the middle daughter.

“Yeah!” agreed the youngest daughter. “Makoto is with him, and we know that he’d never let anything bad happen to Nagisa.”

“I know…I know. He’s always been that way, and shame on me for ever doubting him for a second.” The King’s cries grew stronger. “I’m just so _scared_.”

“Dad, look at me.” the eldest daughter placed her hands on her father’s cheeks. “We’ll find him, okay? We will.”

“It’s been nearly three weeks without a single trace…where could he have gone?”

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa was sitting at the table, pencil in hand, and a very determined look on his face. Rei was standing on the other side of the table with a book, and cleared his throat. “Nagisa Hazuki, today is a very important day. Are you prepared?”

Nagisa’s eyes flashed a glint of slyness and he nodded confidently.

“Oh really?” Rei asked in a snarky tone. “Well, then can you spell the word ‘atrium’?!” He asked melodramatically as he pointed to a random page in the dictionary he was holding.

Nagisa gripped the pencil tighter in his hand and wrote the word down on the sheet of paper in front of him; his eyes darted up at Rei once he was done and Rei pointed at another random word in the dictionary.

“How about the word ‘hemisphere’?!”

Nagisa hesitated a moment, but then added that word to his sheet of paper.

“And the word ‘martyr’?!”

Nagisa quickly wrote that word down as well and then glanced up at Rei with a look that said ‘is that all you got?’

Rei took note of Nagisa’s snarky expression and thus began to throw more difficult words at him, which Nagisa was able to produce onto his sheet of paper with ease, only having been thrown by a few words that he ending up guessing at, but that was okay because he was sure most of them were correct.

A few more words, and Nagisa finally reached 100 on his page; Rei then closed his dictionary and set it down; he walked around the table to sit next to Nagisa and have a look at his paper. Nagisa waited impatiently as Rei’s eyes scanned the paper and flipped through the dictionary to double check some of the spelling.

His expression was unreadable, and Nagisa could barely keep to his seat as he scooched closer with anticipation. Rei took a pen from his pocket and wrote a few things on Nagisa’s paper and then capped the pen and returned it to his pocket.

“Well, Nagisa. You have done _very_ well and I am impressed!” Nagisa’s eyes brightened up and Rei flipped the paper so Nagisa could look at it. “94 out of 100!”

Nagisa beamed and took the paper in his hands to look at it. He was so surprised because he guessed on more than six words but still got some of them right. He hugged Rei tight and then picked his pencil back up and wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to Rei.

Rei looked at it and smiled. The paper said ‘ _Thank you’_ on it. “You are very much welcome, Nagisa. I’m very proud of your improvement.”

Nagisa grinned and wrote something else down. He was getting even better at writing sentences and was trying to write them as often as he could. It was really nice to start actually talking with Rei even though Nagisa was still limited.

He handed the paper over to Rei and Rei blushed slightly upon reading it. ‘ _That’s because I have the most beautiful teacher_.’ “N-Nagisa. Why do you always use the word beautiful when there are more suitable adjectives? You could have simply gone with ‘admirable’ or ‘brilliant’.”

Nagisa wrote something down once again. _‘I do it because you are beautiful in everything you do_.’ Rei blushed deeper upon reading this and cleared his throat loudly. “Th-thank you, Nagisa. I appreciate your compliment, but you must remember that you can’t use that word all the time, alright? Why don’t you try using something else?”

Nagisa pondered a moment and wrote something. ‘ _You are the most excellent teacher?_ ’ “Yes, that word makes more sense, thank you.” Rei adjusted his glasses. “Your sentences have really been improving these past few days. You haven’t been sneaking in here to work at night again, have you?” Rei jested, and Nagisa shook his head with a pout.

Writing sentences wasn’t really all that hard, and Nagisa figured that had to do with the fact he already understood Rei’s language vocally, so he understood how sentence structure worked. It was the spelling that usually got him. There were way too many words that sounded alike, but had different spellings, words that looked nowhere near what they sounded like, and then words that had the same spelling, but different meanings.

“So,” Rei said slowly, breaking the loudness of Nagisa’s thoughts. Nagisa’s gaze focused back on Rei and he noticed that there was a soft blush on his cheeks. “How soon do you think you’ll be able to answer some questions for me?” Nagisa was a bit taken aback by the question because this was probably the first time Rei ever asked this, but Nagisa was still happy to hear it because it meant that Rei cared enough to ask. “I mean…you know so much about me already, it’s not fair that I don’t know much about you.” Rei pushed up his glasses and kept the direction of his eyes towards the table.

Nagisa smiled and wrote ‘ _Maybe tomorrow or the next day, I think I’ll be ready_ ’ on the scrap sheet of paper. He was sure he’d be ready within the next few days, and he could feel himself nearly shaking with excitement at the thought. Finally after three weeks, Nagisa would be able to tell Rei about himself.

Rei read the sentence, and grinned a grin way too big for his face. “Really? You’ll be ready? I…I’m really excited. I’ve been wanting to ask you so many questions! Not just about that night you saved me, but just things about _you_. Your hobbies, your favorites, where you come from, what your family is like!”

At the sound of the word family, Nagisa nearly fell off his chair. Rei wanted to know what his family was like and _where_ Nagisa was from. He…he couldn’t tell Rei any of that, not without telling him he wasn’t human. Not even Nagisa’s hobbies were appropriate to talk about when most of them were obvious hints at not being human. Just how weird would that sound to Rei? Nagisa couldn’t even think of what to tell him if he asked how he saved him that night and why he disappeared for two days before returning.

What would Rei _do_ if Nagisa told him? Would he even believe him? Would he think he was crazy and never want to speak to him again? The thought really scared Nagisa, and he couldn’t believe he never thought this far ahead. This entire time he just wanted to learn how to write so he could talk with Rei… _really_ talk with him. Share stories and interests, talk about nothing and everything, but he never thought about what he would actually tell Rei when he got to that point.

He couldn’t tell him any of those things without revealing himself, and he wasn’t even sure if doing so would tamper with Sumi’s bargain. He couldn’t lie to Rei either, there was _no way_ he would lie to him. Lying is one of the worst things to do when starting a relationship, romantic or otherwise, and he didn’t want to lie about his life to Rei, he just couldn’t. He couldn’t break that trust…it would kill him.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was I a little too overwhelming?” Rei’s voice broke through the chaos of Nagisa’s mind and everything came swirling back together and calmed down. “I kinda went a little overboard there, I apologize. I’m just…I’m really excited to learn more about you, Nagisa.” Rei smiled genuinely at Nagisa, and he just looked so extremely happy and Nagisa couldn’t stop his heart from melting into a puddle of goo alongside a feeling in his heart that panged with guilt.

Nagisa forced the best smile he could out of himself and nodded. What was he going to do? He was in no way prepared anymore, and he couldn’t just change his mind and tell Rei to wait another few more days, not with how excited he was. Not to mention, it was nearing the fourth and last week. He couldn’t waste any more time than he already was. No. He _had_ to figure something out.

 

* * *

 

 

The first few times Haruka caught Nagisa sneaking out of his bedroom at night, he didn’t pay much attention to it. He figured Nagisa just wanted to explore the castle, sneak some food from the kitchen, or even go to the library to study; nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. That is until one night a very brash voice coming from outside his window woke him up.

He looked out of it to try and spot the source of the noise, but it was pretty dark and he couldn’t see much. He shrugged and was about to flop back down on his bed, thinking he probably imagined it, but then he spotted a familiar mop of blond hair heading for the walk way. A few minutes later he heard faint footsteps pass his room and then the creak of a door opening and closing. He wondered what Nagisa was doing outside.

Now Haru wasn’t normally a curious person, he couldn’t care less what other people did usually, but for some reason, Haru wanted to know what Nagisa was doing. Perhaps that harsh voice he heard had him worried for the blond, who he didn’t like to admit had grown on him in his time here, but he couldn’t really help it with how obviously happy that little ball of energy made Rei.

Haru had seen a change in his best friend ever since Nagisa showed up, and it was a really good change. Rei had been very stoic for a long time, and even though Haru was a pretty stoic person himself, he knew that wasn’t how Rei truly was. He remembered what an utter dork he was when they were kids; always going off on tangents about one thing or the other, being overly confident about something he used to be insecure about merely because someone he admired would tell him otherwise, and always yapping about how beautiful or not beautiful things were. Rei was always the one to invite Haru to play or run on the beach and Haru never really felt like he contributed those kind of initiations.

As Rei got older, however, he started to become more reserved, and Haru wasn’t exactly sure why. The only thing he could guess was the shame Rei felt for not being able to swim. “ _A grown man, let alone a_ Prince, _should not have to be guarded whenever he’s near the water. It’s not practical, nor is it beautiful._ ” Haru remembered Rei saying a year ago on his birthday after getting teased by some younger boys who had found out the 15 year old Prince couldn’t swim.

 But ever since Nagisa showed up, Rei was starting to act like his old self again, he was smiling again, and it really made Haru happy to see that. So, he felt like if something bad were to happen to Nagisa, Rei would be upset; and Haru didn’t want Rei to be upset.

So Haru had decided to follow Nagisa outside tonight, and being quiet normally gave him a great advantage so he was able to follow completely undetected by the younger boy. Once Nagisa was off the walkway and onto the sand, Haru remained hidden by the trees and peaked out the tiniest bit. Nagisa skipped over to the edge of the water, and sat down in the sand. He couldn’t tell how close Nagisa was to the water because it was quite dark out tonight.

“Ah, there you are, Nagisa.”

Haru jumped somewhat at the sudden sound of a voice and looked all around but could not find the source. The voice was unfamiliar and definitely not the one he heard the other night. Just how many people was Nagisa meeting out here?

The voice spoke again. “No, Rin isn’t here tonight. Is something wrong? You look a little upset.” Haru peaked around the tree again and still could not see anyone else but Nagisa. Where was this guy? Was he in the water or something?

Haru’s question was answered almost instantly when he heard someone splashing about in the water and he could see the faint outline of someone’s head. He was looking down at the sand and appeared to be reading something.

“Wow I never thought about that before. It’s so obvious, too! _Of course_ Rei would want to know about your family.”

Haru narrowed his brows at the sound of Rei’s name; so this stranger knew who Rei was, and Haru didn’t like that. He moved a bit closer to have a better look and he saw that Nagisa was writing in the sand. So _that’s_ what the boy was looking at before.

“I…I don’t know, Nagisa. I mean, I think telling Rei the truth would be best, but like you said…he probably wouldn’t believe you. I mean, I guess if I was in his situation and someone I had just met told me they weren’t human, I probably wouldn’t believe them either.

Haruka stood there dumbstruck for the longest time and ended up tuning out some of the conversation. Had he heard that right? Nagisa wasn’t…human? He shook his head and snapped himself out of his shock. No, he must have heard that wrong. He tuned into the conversation again and hoped he hadn’t missed anything important.

“I guess the best bet would be to tell him the truth, but just not the entire truth? I hope that’s helpful.” Nagisa wrote something in the sand again. “I know, I know. You only have a week until your bargain with Sumi ends. Don’t worry about it! I saw you and Rei the other day,” The boy smiled softly. “I’m _sure_ he’ll kiss you before the last sunset. You’ll be fine, and then you’ll get to stay human, I know you will.” He placed a hand on Nagisa’s and Haru had to rub his eyes because he could have sworn the boy’s fingers were webbed.

But enough of the webbed fingers, what about what Haru just heard? Nagisa was part of some deal to…to what? _Trick_ Rei into kissing him before some sort of deadline that was coming up soon…so Nagisa could stay human? So Haru _did_ hear right the first time. Nagisa wasn’t human.

Haru could not make any sense of the conversation he just heard; all he knew is that it made him angry because it seemed like Rei was in trouble…that Rei was being made for a fool. Haru clenched his fists. He actually came to trust Nagisa because he knew Rei did, and Rei was usually a great judge of character. He didn’t like this at all. Rei was finally starting to act like himself, and if suddenly this seemingly innocent boy that he was so obviously falling for broke his heart like that…Haru wouldn’t stand for it.

“Yes, it’s getting late. Bed is probably a really good idea. I’m glad I was able to help you, I hope you feel better in the morning. Good night, Nagisa.” Haru saw Nagisa get up from his spot next to the shore and he quickly hid on the other side of the tree so Nagisa wouldn’t see him once he reached the path.

Once Haru was sure Nagisa was gone, he came out from behind the tree and stepped out onto the beach. The closer he stepped, the clearer he was able to see the figure in the water; he was floating lazily on his back with his head facing away from him. Fists clenched, Haru walked over to the shore.

“And would you mind telling me who you are exactly?”


	11. Chapter 10

The boy in the water had wavered for a moment, practically petrified with fear, but after a few moments of silence, he slowly started to float backwards before quickly disappearing underneath the water. Haru did not hesitate and dived in after the boy immediately, catching his arm in mere seconds. Haru could tell the boy was quite strong and probably could have broken free of Haru’s grasp if he wanted to, but he seemed too frightened to try.

Haru tightened his grip just in case, but that was a bad idea because right when he did, the boy suddenly regained his strength and Haru felt a powerful kick to his gut and flew out of the water, landing just short of the shore with a loud grunt. The landing was less painful than it could have been, as Haru only felt winded and woozy from the force of the kick, and he put his hand to his head in an attempt to calm the dizziness before he made himself sit up. He blearily looked out to the water and expected the boy to be long gone already, but instead he saw the boy swimming back with a very worried look on his face.

“I am _so_ sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you, I was just trying to get away, and I was scared, and sometimes I don’t know my own strength, and…”

Haru was barely listening and mainly concentrating on trying to refocus his eyes, and the boy’s chatter only made his head hurt worse; he was surprised the boy came back when he could have easily gotten away. The boy had eventually pulled himself further out of the water as he babbled on, seemingly to get a closer look at Haru’s face to see if he was okay, but Haru’s gaze suddenly fixated on something that was definitely not quite right about the lower half of this boy’s body. Instead of legs, he had a giant black and white colored fish-like tail attached. Haru widened his gaze and rubbed his eyes because there was no way he was seeing straight. He must have bumped his head or something…that had to be it.

The boy paused his talking once he noticed Haru’s gaze, looked down at himself, and squawked before he pushed himself back into the water enough to hide his… _tail._ “Ah, that…that was probably pointless since you’ve already seen, huh?”

Haru continued to stare at the water, completely dumbfounded. How could this…how could this be real? Haru would have never dreamed that this could be real. Before his parents died, his mother had always told him stories about merpeople who lived in the sea, and he always dreamed about how wonderful it must be to live in the water and never have to leave it. To swim forever and eat as much mackerel as he wanted. To actually feel like he could be one with the water.

He also remembered hearing Rei’s brother talk about how Rei would do extensive research on merpeople while he was learning how to swim, so he had seen quite the number of books about them in the library before. Haru sometimes even spent a few afternoons reading them and only wishing that they could be more than just a myth or folk tale. Now there was one sitting right in front of him and it felt so surreal.

“You…you’re a….”

“A merman...yes. Well technically I’m a merorca…we have different races, but we’re still the same species and I’m so sorry about before and…ah I’m Makoto, nice to meet you!” He sputtered quickly, bowed his head, and held out a shaky hand before a very overwhelmed and still very confused Haruka.

 

* * *

 

 

Rei started to laugh, he was laughing _hard._ Nagisa wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or worried, so he chose the latter because he didn’t want to get his hopes up. Rei finally spotted Nagisa’s worried expression and stopped; his face quickly went from amused to confused.

“This…this is absurd. You’re actually being serious?”

Nagisa nodded nervously, fists clenching tightly against the hem of his shirt in preparation for what Rei may say next.

 “Do you take me for a fool?”

Nagisa was confused at why Rei would ask such a question, but he shook his head and felt a lump in his throat when he tried to swallow.

“I…can’t believe it. You are such a liar…” Nagisa’s eyes widened in complete shock and his hands fell from his shirt to his thighs. “This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! I just wanted to know about your family and how you saved me that night. If you didn’t want to tell me, you should have just said so instead of coming up with this outrageous story! I’m insulted that you could not be honest with me. I thought…I thought I was your friend.”

Nagisa finally swallowed that lump and he looked up to Rei with apologetic eyes, but was also extremely hurt that Rei thought he was making all of this up. He reached out to touch Rei’s shoulder and Rei nudged it away and stood up.

“No, don’t touch me. I don’t like people who are dishonest. Dishonesty is my least favorite quality in a person. I can’t believe that you would just lie to me like that, and such a ridiculous lie at that! After all I’ve done for you! Giving you a place to stay, teaching you how to write, putting up with your hyper attitude that is frankly a bit annoying…and you just decide to betray me like that.”

 Nagisa wanted to scream that he wasn’t lying, that none of Rei’s assumptions were true, but all he could do was shake his head frantically. He panicked and started to glance around the room, searching for his writing pad. When he couldn’t find it, an idea dawned on him…he could take Rei to see Makoto! If Rei saw Makoto he would _have_ to believe him! Nagisa ran over to Rei, whose back was now toward him, and he grabbed his hand. Rei stiffened and pried Nagisa’s hand away.

“Get out.” Rei suddenly whispered, not turning to face him. Then Rei continued with the coldest voice Nagisa had ever heard come out of his mouth. “I want you to leave…I want you to leave the castle, and I _never_ want to see you again.”

It took a few seconds before the words really _hit_ Nagisa and he suddenly lost the feeling in his legs and he fell to his knees; the tears came almost instantly. Before Nagisa knew it, Rei was leaving the room and Nagisa couldn’t do anything to stop him. He couldn’t move to catch him, he couldn’t cry out, he didn’t even know if he could breathe anymore.

“Pack your things…I’ll have Haruka escort you out. I hope you have a nice life.” Rei then left the room without another word.

 Nagisa continued to cry; he _knew_ this would happen. He shouldn’t have tried to tell Rei the truth, he should have just listened to Makoto. He just didn’t want to lie to Rei…he _couldn’t_. Nagisa told the truth and Rei thought he was lying anyways. He thought Rei would believe him, he thought Rei would understand, but he was wrong and now he’s lost him. He had never felt so alone before in his life.

Nagisa looked down at the ground where his tears had fallen and noticed that something wasn’t right. The tears started to gather and the pool was getting rapidly bigger. The water suddenly started to surround Nagisa and, unable to move, he began to sink into it. Nagisa clenched his eyes shut and when he opened them he was completely underwater and a familiar purple presence started to surround him.

Nagisa’s chest burned and couldn’t breathe, for real this time, then he felt a searing pain in his legs. He glanced down and his legs were melting together, changing color, growing scales…his fin was back and he could breathe again. The darkness continued to surround him and he was frantically searching for a way out.

When he spotted an escape, he began to swim toward it, but something sticky wrapped around his arm and pulled him back. Nagisa felt a light brush against his ear and shivered uncomfortably when he heard a voice speaking quietly into it.

“Not so fast, my dear. You belong to me now, remember?”

Nagisa felt the same stickiness wrap around his entire body, everything went dark before his eyes, and he felt like he was suffocating.

Nagisa’s eyes shot open and he was laying down, his body covered in sweat and his breathing heavy. He shot up and frantically looked around the dark room; he was still in the castle in the room Rei so perfectly picked out for him and a sudden relief filled his body. It was a dream. He hadn’t told Rei anything and he wasn’t being forced to leave. It was just a dream.

Once the shock wore off, the initial fear Nagisa felt in the dream rushed through his mind and he brought a hand to his mouth and started to cry. Would this actually happen if he told Rei the truth? No, it couldn’t; Rei was kind, and even if he was somehow hurt by Nagisa or didn’t believe him, he wouldn’t just react so harshly. Rei wouldn’t just kick Nagisa out onto the street.

Rei would never be so cruel, would he? The dream had felt so real that he couldn’t stop himself from thinking that this could happen. If Rei felt Nagisa had betrayed him, he wouldn’t be cold and kick him out on the spot, but he would probably ask him to leave eventually, and that’s what scared Nagisa.

He didn’t want to hurt Rei, he didn’t want to lose his trust, and he didn’t want to lose _him._ There was no way he could tell Rei the truth, he couldn’t risk it. Nagisa let his hand fall from his face and he stared down at it. He couldn’t tell Rei the truth but he couldn’t lie to him either, what if the outcome was worse? What if Nagisa lied to Rei about his family and how he went about saving his life for Rei to only find out the truth eventually?

Nagisa knew _he_ would feel hurt if Rei told him something as important as that only to find out later that it was all a lie. Nagisa began to cry again; he just didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t tell Rei the truth, and he couldn’t _not_ tell him the truth. Either way, he was doomed to lose Rei’s trust somehow.

What was worse, Rei was expecting to have these questions answered soon, and there was no way Nagisa could. He couldn’t just tell Rei he didn’t want to answer the questions anymore…that would make him look suspicious and possibly lead to even more questions, not to mention it could upset Rei since he looked so excited to finally ask him about himself. The only option was to avoid Rei altogether, but Nagisa couldn’t do that! Not with only a week left until his time ran out.

He cradled his head in his hands and he didn’t know what to do. It felt like every option would end up with a bad outcome and Nagisa couldn’t find any solution where this wouldn’t end horribly. He needed help, and he needed it immediately. He threw the covers off of himself, slipped on his shoes, and dashed out of his room to head for the beach. He had just spoken with Makoto, but he was the only one who could help him.

 

* * *

 

 

“I know this is a lot to take in…” Makoto said softly, “And probably a little hard to believe, but…Nagisa intentions are pure. He has _never_ wanted to hurt Rei in any way. He really cares about him.”

Makoto was right, this really was a lot to take and quite unbelievable considering how much his explanation sounded like something out of a fairy tale; running away, magic potions, true love’s kiss, there was even a witch involved. It all sounded completely absurd, but Haru couldn’t help but believe every word this boy was saying. His voice was just so sincere and kind and there didn’t seem to be an ounce of dishonesty in it.

Haru couldn’t quite understand it either; how could he just believe someone he barely met, someone he wasn’t even sure existed until now? This could have all been some elaborate ruse to trick Rei and gain his trust and possibly end up getting him hurt. It was Haru’s job to protect Rei, yet somehow he could just sit here and believe this ridiculous story.

“I’m not exactly sure what would happen if Rei found out, but…” Makoto continued. “If you could maybe not mention this to him? I know this is a lot of me to ask; you don’t know me, so I don’t even expect you to trust me, but…”

“I can’t just keep this from him. Even if Nagisa does care about him, this is something that shouldn’t be kept secret.”

“Nagisa will tell him eventually, I know he will. I just know he’d want to tell him all this himself instead of Rei finding out by some other means. Wouldn’t that just break Rei’s trust and upset him?”

Haru sighed and looked away; he didn’t know what he wanted to do anymore.

“Please,” Makoto lowered his head again. “…please.”

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa dashed down the hallway as quickly and quietly as he could, he didn’t want to think about what would happen if someone heard him out of bed so late and running through the halls. He nearly tripped as he ran down the stairs, but caught himself just in time and then quickly opened the doors. As he rushed out, he ran right into something in his path; he saw a form fall in the darkness in front of him and heard a groan of pain on the ground.

“Oi,” came a familiar voice. What was Haruka doing outside this time of night? Moonlight swimming? “Twice in one night, jeez.” He muttered to himself as he rubbed his head.

Nagisa waved his hands around in apology and reached a hand out to help him up. Haru glanced at Nagisa’s hand in hesitation before taking it and stepping up from the ground. Once he was standing again, he stared straight at Nagisa and didn’t say anything for a good few minutes and Nagisa started to get uncomfortable, so he tried to avoid looking at Haru directly. Was he really _that_ mad about getting knocked over?

“I just spoke with your friend.”

Nagisa suddenly forgot about all of his uncomfortable feelings and averted his gaze back to Haru with a look of fear and confusion. Haru _couldn’t_ mean…

“Your friend Makoto.” Haru clarified, continuing to stare at Nagisa with that deadpan expression.

Nagisa felt himself choke on his own saliva and coughed harshly into his arm before he could breathe fully again, but breathing suddenly wasn’t coming very easy. How did Haru…when did he…how did he even know Makoto’s name?

“I’m still confused about your situation, I mean…” He gestured toward Nagisa’s person. “A merman? It’s hard to believe…”

No, this couldn’t be happening; this had to be another dream or something. Soon he would just wake up in his own bed again and he’ll have not left his room yet. Nagisa rubbed his eyes harshly a few times, but Haru was still standing there staring at him. This wasn’t another dream, was it? Nagisa started to panic and had to remind himself to keep breathing and to _not_ pass out. If he passed out then who knows what Haru would do while Nagisa was blacked out? His mind shot to thoughts of Haru telling Rei everything and then Rei proceeding to overreact and kick him out just like in his dream. He felt himself start to tremble and his eyes started to water again.

“O-oi! Calm down.” Haru placed a hand on Nagisa’s shoulder to try and calm him. “I’m not going to tell Rei.”

A sudden relief filled Nagisa up and it was so strong, he nearly fell over. He _wasn’t_ going to tell Rei? But…why?

Haruka caught on to Nagisa’s bewildered expression and continued. “Originally, I was going to tell Rei right away, but…this is different. I know you mean a lot to him, and I don’t want to see him get hurt; if I told him, it would break your trust and I’d have been the one to help hurt him.” Nagisa sniffed and wiped his eyes, feeling very hopeful. “So, I’m not going to tell him.” Haru looked away from Nagisa. “I’m willing to give you a chance because your friend gave quite the convincing argument on your behalf about your feelings for Rei. But,” he looked back to Nagisa. “If you hurt Rei, I won’t forgive you.”

Nagisa sniffed again and started nodding frantically. He wished he could tell Haru right then and there that he would not disappoint him, that he could never hurt Rei, and that he would feel absolutely horrible for lying to him about any of this.

Haru seemed to understand whatever expression Nagisa held on his face, because he placed another hand on his shoulder and nodded. Nagisa then wrapped his arms tightly around Haru and nearly started crying from relief.

Haru just stood there and let Nagisa hug him and cry without returning the embrace other than a few awkward pats to Nagisa’s head. A moment of sobbing and hiccupping passed, and Haru finally pried Nagisa off of him. “I’m going back to bed now.” Nagisa wiped his eyes and nodded. “Oh, and uh, you should tell Rei about this eventually. I’d want him to hear it from you instead of me.”

Nagisa looked to the ground. He still couldn’t tell Rei, not yet, not after that dream. He couldn’t risk it.

“Rei’s not going to hate you if you tell him the truth.” Haru spoke up, apparently reading Nagisa’s thoughts. “It’ll be hard to get him to believe you, but one look of that orca friend of yours should do the trick. It worked on me.”

Nagisa knew Rei would never be so cruel, but he still couldn’t get over that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“It doesn’t have to be right away,” Haru continued. “Just promise me you’ll tell him before you…change back? Because if you don’t, I will, and that might make the situation worse.” Nagisa sighed and nodded. Haru had a point there; even if Nagisa was dreading it, he knew he’s have to go through with it before his time ran out. “Thank you.” Haru bid Nagisa goodnight and returned inside.

Nagisa sat down on the cool ground and tried to enjoy the cool night breeze for a moment, taking in deep breaths and admiring the stars above him. He finally started to reach a more calm state after about ten minutes of sitting there and he decided that there was no need to go consult Makoto anymore. One last look up at the stars and Nagisa finally stood up headed back inside and to his room. He realized how tired he was once he fell onto his bed and started dozing off almost immediately. He still wasn’t sure of what he was going to do in the morning, but he felt less worried than he had before.

The next morning, Rei knocked on Nagisa’s door to collect him for their run, but Nagisa was so tired from all the troubles from the previous night, that he reluctantly shook his head.

“Are you feeling okay?” Rei asked, concern spreading on his face.

Nagisa rolled over on his side and managed to reach for his note pad on the bed side table and tiredly scribbled out an answer he hoped was legible enough. _“Too tired. Not much sleep.”_

“Oh! Well, then by all means…” Rei took the pad from Nagisa and returned it to its place on the table, and then threw the blanket back over Nagisa. “We don’t want you being so tired you get overwhelmed again, do we? So try to get some more rest.” Rei fluffed Nagisa’s pillow. “Come down for breakfast whenever you feel up to it, okay?”

Nagisa was a bit taken aback by Rei’s sudden kindness and stared up at him with sleepy bewildered eyes. His smile was gentle and a bit concerned and Nagisa nearly teared up at the site. What did he mean _sudden kindness_? Rei has always been like this from the very start. He was the one who took Nagisa in when he suddenly collapsed on the beach despite not even knowing him. He was the one who let him stay in the castle because he wanted to repay him for saving his life. He was the one who was taking the time to teach him even though he could probably do a million other things with his time.

 Nagisa couldn’t believe that he could have let such an awful dream get to him like that. Of _course_ Rei wouldn’t just suddenly yell at him and kick him out, not after all this kindness he has shown him. He smiled back up at Rei and nodded before taking the blanket up to his neck and nuzzling his face into the pillow.

Once he settled comfortably, he felt a light brush of his hair a few seconds later and nearly opened his eyes to look, but decided against it so he could enjoy the warmth from Rei’s fingers so close to his face. He smiled softly into the pillow and then heard the sound of footsteps exiting the room.

Nagisa felt so completely relaxed, it was as if a weight had lifted off his shoulders and all the stress from the night before didn’t matter anymore. He sighed and drifted back to sleep, and was thankful for the lack of nightmares.

He wasn’t sure how long he slept after that, he still wasn’t very good at reading a clock, but he felt so much better when he finally woke up and stretched his arms comfortably over his head. Now he knew what he wanted to do. He would tell Rei, but not quite yet. He wanted Rei to get to know a few things about himself before he bombarded him with such an important thing.

He dressed and tried his best to brush out his hair, even though he still preferred when Rei did it, before heading down to the dining hall. He was actually a little disappointed when he found Rei wasn’t there, but breakfast looked like it was still being served because there were plates of food still on the table and Rei’s brother and Goro were finishing up.

“Ah, mornin’, Nagisa! Rei told me you’d be a little late today, but you just barely made breakfast. Here, pull up a seat.” Rei’s brother gestured for Nagisa to come over and sit. Nagisa nodded sat in an empty chair a few seats away from the two men as to not impose on their conversation. He served himself and filled his plate as much as he wanted without feeling guilty. He supposed that was one good thing about Rei not being there, because recently Rei had tried to make sure Nagisa didn’t eat too much or too fast, though he thought it was cute how Rei was looking out for him. Once the two had started up there conversation again, Nagisa didn’t really listen until they had become so loud that it was hard to ignore. Haru wasn’t kidding when he said they were the two loudest men in the kingdom.

“Why did Haruka look so disgruntled this morning? He doesn’t normally get angered so easily, so I was a little worried.” Goro asked with a full mouth.

“Oh that? It wasn’t anything serious, he was just a little disappointed that there wasn’t any mackerel at breakfast.”

“Well, I’m sure one day without it won’t kill him.” Goro laughed.

“I thought that too, but apparently they were out at the market and won’t be getting any for another week since the fisherman has fallen ill.”

“Oh, well that’s unfortunate.” Goro grumbled sarcastically. “It’ll be good for him to not have it for a while. Eating that much fish all the time can’t be very healthy anyways. I’m surprised Rei hasn’t gotten on his case with how much he cares about health and what not.”

So there was no mackerel for Haru, huh? Nagisa shoved a fork full of food into his mouth and suddenly got the most brilliant idea. He finished his food as fast as he could while making sure not to make himself sick, and quietly excused himself from the table before hurrying out to the beach. He just needed to get Makoto to agree, and then he’d be able to thank Haru properly for keeping his secret.

 

* * *

 

 

“You…want me to catch some mackerel?” Makoto questioned with a tilted head.

Nagisa nodded furiously at Makoto and wrote in the sand again. _“Please. It’s for Haru.”_

Makoto tensed up once he finished reading the message. “Ah, um…Nagisa…there’s something I should probably tell you about Haru…”

Nagisa smiled, shook his head, and wrote in the sand again. _“It’s okay, I already know. I ran into him last night and he explained everything.”_

Makoto let out a very relieved breath and relaxed his shoulders. “Oh thank goodness. I’m sorry I told him everything, Nagisa.” He looked down. “I tried to swim away, but he jumped in and stopped me; he’s actually a really fast swimmer for a human. Then I kicked him back and was so afraid I had hurt him that I had to make sure he was okay, but I ended up ruining my chances to escape. I tried explaining everything the best I could, though I don’t think he really believed most of it. I mean, why would he? I asked him if he could keep this a secret, but he didn’t really seem up for it. He never agreed to anything and just left. I’m so sorry, Nagisa. I feel awful about this whole thing.”

_“It’s okay, Makoto. He’s not going to tell Rei.”_

“He’s not?!”

_“Nope. He told me that I make Rei happy and that if he told, he would just make Rei upset and he didn’t want that. He says you gave him a pretty convincing argument on my behalf, so he said he’d give me a chance to prove myself. He won’t tell Rei, but he wants me to.”_

“Are you going to?”

_“Well, I have to eventually. I don’t really have much time left, and I don’t want to lie to him. Haru said he might need some convincing, so I’ll probably have to bring him to you. I was supposed to answer questions for him today, so I think I want to let him get to know more about me before I tell him.”_

“Alright,” Makoto agreed. “Let me know when you want to tell him, and I’ll be right there with you.”

Nagisa smiled. _“Thank you, Makoto! I don’t know how I’d do this without you.”_

“Of course, that’s what I’m here for.” Makoto gave a small laugh. “Why do you need the mackerel anyway?”

_“Oh, well I guess it’ll just be a way for me to properly thank Haru for not telling Rei.”_

“Ah, I see. I’ll look for some. Come back later this evening to check, okay?”

 _“Thanks again, Makoto.”_ Nagisa gave him a hug and then went back up to the castle. He was nearly to the stairs when he ran into Haru descending them.

“Rei’s looking for you. He’s in the library.” Haru said as he passed, not looking at Nagisa.

Nagisa stopped and turned around, but Haru had already gone. He frowned and hoped Haru wasn’t somehow regretting his decision to keep his secret, so he hoped that the mackerel might help cheer him up. Nagisa turned away from the stairs and skipped down the hall and to the library. He peered through the door and found Rei sitting in his usual chair reading a book.

Sometimes Nagisa liked to watch Rei while he read, and he took note of the small things Rei would usually do; like the pace of his eyes as they looked back and forth over the page, how he moved his fingers around occasionally because he tended to get sweaty hands, the way he’d bite his lip in concentration. Nagisa always felt spoiled at being able to look at him closely during these moments, and he was grateful that Rei never seemed to mind. Nagisa shifted slightly and the door creaked, causing Rei to tense slightly and look up from his book.

He looked toward the door and lit up once he spotted Nagisa. “Ah, there you are! Did you have a nice sleep?”

Nagisa nodded happily and shuffled inside to take the seat next to Rei.

“Oh good. I was a bit worried you had over-worked yourself again.” Rei set his book down on the table between their chairs and looked at Nagisa a little closer. “You… _haven’t_ been doing any more late night studying, have you?”

Nagisa playfully rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Good.” Rei stood up and put his book back on the shelf. “So I was hoping I could ask you a few things about yourself today, but since you were so tired earlier, would you like to try tomorrow instead?” Nagisa pursed his lips and then shook his head. “No?” Rei looked slightly disappointed. “Then…the next day perhaps?” Nagisa shook his head again before standing up from his chair and taking a hold of Rei’s hands to pull him out of the library. “N-Nagisa! You could just lead me to where you’re taking me instead of dragging me there, you know!”

 _Where’s the fun in that?_ Nagisa thought, and he continued to drag Rei along until they reached Nagisa’s room and sat the two of them down on his bed. He retrieved his notepad from his back pocket and wrote the sentence, “ _We can start right now!_ ”

“Oh, well…um. Okay!” Rei replied once he read Nagisa’s message. “Why are we in your room, though? Wouldn’t the library be more suitable?”

Nagisa shrugged and wrote another message. “ _This just seemed less formal.”_ Rei nodded in agreement upon reading the message and pushed up his glasses.

“So, just let me know if you don’t want to answer certain questions, all right? I don’t want to force you to answer things you’re not comfortable with.” Nagisa took in a short breath and his eyes grew a little wider; he should have known Rei would be understanding. Nagisa gave a soft smile before nodding. Now that the worry was gone, he was actually feeling excited about this again.

Rei cleared his throat. “How about…oh! What is your favorite color?”

Nagisa smiled again and scrawled out the word “pink” in the fanciest writing he could manage.

Rei chuckled. “Good thing I gave you the pink room then. I had no idea it was your favorite color, I just…the colors reminded me of your eyes and I remember from that night I…um….a-anyway!” Rei looked away and cleared his throat again, a blush on his face. “Um...do you have any hobbies?”

Nagisa couldn’t help but giggle internally at Rei being so flustered, but he pondered the question for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he should answer this one or not considering his hobby was collecting human artifacts and that would have been a really weird answer; but he came up with an easy solution and wrote that he likes to collect things.

“Oh?” Rei asked. “What sort of things do you like to collect?”

 _“All different kinds of things.”_ Nagisa wrote.

“Anything specifically?”

What would Nagisa say? He could easily tell Rei that he didn’t want to go into detail about that, but how weird would that come across? Suddenly, Nagisa remembered that he had brought that butterfly brooch with him, so he sprung up from the bed and snatched his bag from the vanity.

He brought the bag over and reached into it, clenching his hand around the brooch tightly before removing it from the bag and presenting it to Rei. Rei’s smile faded and he became rigid upon seeing the piece of jewelry that laid in Nagisa’s open palm. It was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, and Rei’s voice was slightly strained when he finally decided to speak.

“Where did you get that?”

Nagisa wrote again. “ _I found it.”_

“You _found_ it? How did you find…that’s impossible I…this-this is mine.”

Nagisa’s eyes shot open wide and he couldn’t believe it. He remembered the exact day he bought this brooch from a traveling merchant because he had just recently found out what butterflies were and he thought the item looked very beautiful even though he had no idea what it was used for; he just wanted it for the butterfly mostly, and the merchant gave him a good price for it too. By what weird coincidence could this have belonged to Rei?

“It was my grandmother’s.” Rei continued. “She gave it to me for good luck and said it would protect me. She…looked after me and my brother whenever my parents were busy and the two of us grew very close to her. She’d read us stories and taught us how to bake sweets and…” Rei’s eyes softened at the memory, “And she never gave up on me when I couldn’t learn how to swim. She was probably the one who had the most faith in me, even more so than my brother…which is saying something because he was quite enthusiastic about cheering me on.

I decided to wear that brooch when I dramatically tried to force myself swim and ended up nearly drowning. I never really believed it was a lucky charm, that would have been illogical, but I was out of options and thought maybe it could bring me enough good luck to finally learn how to swim; but I was wrong and still ended up sinking like a rock. The brooch came off of my shirt in the confusion and I never saw it again. Gran was never mad that I lost something so important to her…she was just glad that I was okay, and she said the brooch really _did_ bring me luck because it was lucky that Haruka happened to be there to save me.” Rei’s expression saddened. “Unfortunately she…passed away a few months later. That brooch was my most precious gift from her…and I lost it.”

Nagisa looked from Rei’s face and down to the brooch in his hand and the thought made him shiver. The odds of Nagisa finding something of Rei’s, it surviving the wreckage of his trove being destroyed by his father, _and_ him bringing it along were just…there was just no way it could have been a coincidence. It was funny too, because this brooch kinda reminded Nagisa of Rei. The colors matching the main colors of himself, Rei’s love for butterflies as Nagisa came to find out, and just the beauty of it, really.

The corners of Nagisa’s mouth turned up and his heart filled up to the brim with a warmth that had been rising and rising ever since he first met the blue-haired boy. He had been falling, and he knew this, but now…now there was no doubt he had fallen hard and fast; and just over the simplest thing like a long-lost brooch that ended up connecting them.

Nagisa looked back up to Rei, who seemed lost in his own thoughts, and he opened up Rei’s hand and placed the brooch into it. Rei finally realized what Nagisa had done and brought his eyes back into focus to stare down at the brooch in his hand. Nagisa curled Rei’s fingers delicately over the jewel and looked up to him with soft eyes.

Rei returned Nagisa’s gaze and tears started to well up in his eyes before he gave out a shaky breath. “Thank you, Nagisa.” He brought his clenched hand up to his chest. “You have no idea how much this means to me.” Nagisa nodded brightly and Rei brought up a hand to wipe away his tears. “Heh, here I am babbling about myself again when I wanted to learn more about _you._ ”

_“It’s okay, Rei. This was important to you. I’m happy I was able to return this to you after so long.”_

Rei smiled fondly at the blond and placed the brooch in his pocket. “So, back to you…”

The two boys sat there for the next hour or so and Nagisa was amazed by all the questions Rei was coming up with; he liked to think that maybe Rei laid in bed the night before and thought up what questions he would ask, and that thought made Nagisa’s heart flutter.

 Rei started with simple questions like how long he’d been swimming, if he had any special talents, what his favorite food was, and so on. Nagisa found these questions simple enough to answer, and was happy he could tell Rei the truth about all of them.

As time went on and the questions started to get a little more detailed, Nagisa was surprised that Rei didn’t ask about how Nagisa managed to save him that night, but he was thankful for that because he was definitely not ready to tell Rei yet. He did manage to ask something else that caught Nagisa off guard, however.

“Do you…do you have a family?” Nagisa’s eyes rounded and a small breath caught in his throat. “I mean, you never really mentioned anything and you’ve been here so long without trying to contact anyone so, I was just wondering…”

Nagisa immediately looked away from Rei, trying not to panic. He could do this. He could find a way to mention them without giving anything away.

“Oh, I apologize! I didn’t know.” Rei responded apologetically.

Nagisa cocked an eyebrow in confusion and wrote a response. _“No, I have a family.”_

“Oh. Ah, sorry. I was just assuming from your disheartened expression.” Rei gave an awkward chuckle. “So, then why haven’t you tried contacting them? They don’t know where you are, do they? I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

Nagisa lowered his head and began to write slowly. _“I ran away from home…”_

“You ran away?!” Panic shot over Rei’s face and he looked to Nagisa with worried eyes. “Did something bad happen back home? You…” Rei gulped. “You weren’t hurt…or anything, were you?”

Nagisa shook his head. _“It wasn’t anything like that. My father tried to force me into an arranged marriage with someone I met once…”_ Nagisa heard a small gasp escape from Rei’s mouth before he wrote again. _“He didn’t even tell me about it, and when I found out we had an argument and then he destroyed my collection and locked me in my room.”_

Rei looked at the words on the notepad for a few minutes, his brow was tensed in concern and worry. “That’s horrible, Nagisa. I’m so sorry.” He looked up. “I…don’t really have any experience with arranged marriages, it hasn’t been much of an occurrence in our family, believe it or not. The last one I recall was with my grandmother on my father’s side. Father used to tell us she was quite miserable about the arrangement, so I assume that’s why our parents never tried to force my brother and I into anything like that.” Rei looked back down at the paper. “I can’t really imagine how that must have felt." Rei handed the pad back to Nagisa. “Why not…tell me some happy things about your family. Do you have any siblings?”

Nagisa continued to tell Rei as much as he could about his family without giving anything away. He told him about his sisters and that even though they teased him and picked on him a lot, he knew they could have their moments and he loved them anyways. Rei laughed and nodded in agreement, mentioning that he felt the same way about his own brother.

Nagisa told Rei about his father’s more positive points, even though they were hard to remember since he was still so angry with him that he didn’t _want_ to think about how he could have _any_ positive points. Then Nagisa told Rei about his mother. He was really close with her when he was little, and he knew he got most of his personality from her. She was adventurous and risky, optimistic and full of energy, and she was definitely the person who inspired his collection.  

He hadn’t expected to get choked up when he was telling Rei that she had died when he was eight years old, taken by the hands of pirates for reasons Nagisa obviously couldn’t tell him yet, but Rei didn’t push for details and just sat there with a hand over his mouth and a look of horror and sorrow in his eyes. Once Nagisa started to cry, Rei placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.

After the tears finally subsided, Nagisa finished up telling Rei about his family and they sat there in a very comfortable silence before Rei cleared his throat. “Um, I have another question, if you don’t mind me asking.” Nagisa motioned for Rei to continue. “About that night…when you saved me, I mean…”

Nagisa barely had time to panic because right then there was a small knock on the door that jolted the two boys out of their own little world and Rei’s brother stepped inside.

“Oh there you are, Rei! Do you have a minute?”

“Ah, yes of course.” Rei stood up from the bed and smoothed out his shirt before looking back at Nagisa. “Thank you for today, Nagisa. It’s really nice to finally get to know you better. I look forward to more.” Rei looked up at the clock that hung on the wall. “Oh,” he chuckled. “It seems we’ve missed lunch. I’ll see you at dinner, then.” He gave a very tender smile and then left the room with his brother.

Nagisa smiled as he watched Rei leave the room and then he flopped down on his bed in relief. That sure was a close one; just hearing Rei barely start to ask that question nearly gave him a heart attack. He was still far from ready to tell Rei the truth, but he was losing time, he needed gather up some courage and gather it quick. He needed to think of a plan.


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the long hiatus again, I was hoping that I'd get this chapter done sooner, but school has been killing me. The next chapter shouldn't take too long, though, it's already more than halfway done x3 Hope you enjoy!

“So what did you need to talk to me about?” Rei asked once he and his brother were out of Nagisa’s room and heading down the stairs.

“Mom and Dad have requested an _audience_ with us.” Rei’s brother said with in a very pish-posh way.

“An audience? That sounds very formal.” Rei suddenly felt uneasy. His parents have never requested an audience with them before, they normally were really casual with talking to them about even the most important matters. “Is everything all right?!”

“Pfft, yeah. They didn’t _actually_ say that, they just said to meet them in the throne room so they could talk to us about something. Jeez, Rei,” he laughed. “I can’t even joke around with you.”

“Well they’ve never requested an audience with us before, I was just worried, is all.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know, you dork.” He clapped Rei on the back, nearly pushing him down the staircase. Thankfully Rei had great balance and was even able to catch himself without his brother really noticing anything. “Anyways, I was looking for you for a while. What were you doing in Nagisa’s room?” He nudged him with his elbow.

“Oh, he was answering some questions for me. Now that he can compose full sentences, he’s able to write answers down!”

“Wow, that fast? It’s only been a few weeks and he’s already able to write sentences? Damn, he must be quite the dedicated student.”

“Well, he _does_ have a great teacher, if I say so myself.” Rei smirked and pushed up his glasses dramatically.

“Pfft.” He laughed again. “You know, I haven’t seen you do that since you were a kid.”

“Do what?”

“You know, that glasses thing. I mean, you _do_ push up your glasses on a regular basis, but I mean the silly way you did it just now. You were always such a drama queen as a kid.” Rei started to sputter out a retort. “But it’s nice to see, though. Even Haru pointed out that you’ve been acting a lot more like yourself lately. It’s nice to have you back, little brother.”

Rei put a finger up to his mouth in thought. “Well, I suppose I _have_ been feeling a lot better as of late, now that you mention it. I wonder why—” Before Rei could even start to contemplate what could be the cause of this, a warm smile and bright pink eyes popped into his thoughts so fast that he nearly startled himself. He felt his face start to grow warm, so he coughed and looked away from his brother to hide his embarrassing face. “An-any way. Let’s get going, shall we?”

Rei’s brother cocked a brow and gave a knowing smirk before he nodded and continued down the hall and to their parents’ throne room.

 

* * *

 

 

After having laid on the bed and trying to think of a plan for at least 20 minutes, Nagisa’s stomach started growling. Rei _had_ mentioned that they missed lunch, and even though Nagisa had a late breakfast, he was very hungry. It was probably too late for a meal since dinner was so close, but a snack would never hurt!

He leaped up off of the bed headed down to the kitchen to see if there was anything he could sneak before dinner. Nagisa walked through the doors and heard one of the cooks talking quite sternly and stopped to stick his head around the corner to watch before he revealed himself just in case he was walking in on something he shouldn’t be.

“I’m sorry, Haru, but there’s just no way I could send someone to the next town over and get mackerel for you. It’s not that urgent and you’re the only one who eats it that often anyways.” Haru crossed his arms and…was he pouting? “You’ll just have to eat something else for dinner; not having mackerel for a few nights won’t kill you, will it?” The cook picked up a platter and left Haru to sulk.

That’s right! The mackerel! Nagisa almost forgot he had Makoto try to catch some for him. Nagisa checked around the corner again and saw that the cook was on the other side of the room and preoccupied with his dish, so he stepped inside to tap Haru on the shoulder.

“Oh…hey.” Haru said. “What do you want?”

Nagisa smiled and took Haru’s arm to drag him out of the kitchen.

“O-oi! What are you—where are you taking me? Nagisa!”

Nagisa just kept on smiling and continued to drag Haru outside and down the walkway to the beach. Once there, Nagisa finally let go of Haru’s arm and threw a few rocks into the water to see if Makoto was back.

“You mind telling me why you dragged me down here?” Nagisa ignored Haru and threw another few rocks into the water. “Nagisa!”

Makoto’s head finally popped out of the water. “I’m here, I’m here! You can stop it with the rocks now!”

Nagisa smiled and plopped onto the sand to write out a message.

_“Did you get any mackerel?!”_

“I did!” Makoto said proudly. “I got three! So, hopefully that’ll…oh…I hadn’t realized you brought him with you.”

_“Yup! You can give him the fish now!”_

“What, _me_?!”

_“Well, you’re the one who has it. Besides, it’d be easier for you to explain since you’re the one who can talk.”_

Makoto sighed. “All right…” He cleared his throat. “Um, hello, Haruka…”

“Haru.”

“I…what?”

Haru folded his arms and looked away. “I don’t like Haruka. Just Haru is fine…”

“Oh, um, okay! Haru…Nagisa said that you had a mackerel shortage?”

Haru unfolded his arms and his eyes lit up as he reverted his gaze back to Makoto.

“He says mackerel is your favorite, so he wanted me to catch some for you, as a way to uh, thank you for keeping our secret.”

Haru shot his gaze from Makoto to Nagisa. “You…” Nagisa smiled simply. “Um, thanks. You…didn’t really need to. I’m doing all this for Rei’s sake, you know?”

Nagisa nodded knowingly and took Haru’s hand to drag him closer to the shore before he plopped back down to write again. _“Can you bring the mackerel now?”_

“Yes, yes, I’ll be right back!” Makoto smiled and dived into the water.

Nagisa buried his feet in the sand as the two of them waited in silence until Haru cleared his throat.

“You’re not trying to _bribe_ me, are you?” Nagisa looked up from the sand and gave a playful dramatic look. He would _never_ … “It’s not really necessary, you know I won’t tell Rei.”

Nagisa shook his head and retrieved the notepad from his back pocket to write something before he stood up and handed it to Haru. _“I just wanted to do something nice for you. You’ve been so nice to me, after all. I can’t thank you enough for giving me a chance.”_

Haru’s expression softened upon reading the message. “You’ve certainly learned a lot from Rei; your writing, I mean. That in itself must mean something.”

Nagisa heard a splash and looked over to see Makoto popping out of the water with the mackerel in hand. “Here you go, Haru. I hope three will be enough until you can get more.”

Haru’s eyes lit up at the sight of the mackerel and he happily accepted it. “Thank you.”

Nagisa threw his arms around Makoto in a thank you hug before grabbing a hold of Haru again to lead him up to the kitchen to store the fish properly. The cook was completely taken aback by Haru showing up with mackerel and Haru simply said that Nagisa helped him catch some from the ocean and that was that; the cook looked at the both of them in complete disbelief, but he didn’t push the subject any further and just went back to preparing dinner.

 

* * *

 

 

“We hope to hear good things about the party once we return!” Rei’s mother called as he and his brother exited the throne room.

“We’ll make you proud, Mother!” Rei called back and the doors closed behind them. Rei’s brother was practically vibrating with excitement.

“I’m so excited, Rei! The annual summer party, planned and hosted by _us_! I never imagined Mom would ever hand that over _that_ baton.”

“Well, I assume she wouldn’t have done it so easily if they didn’t have to leave so urgently and miss the party altogether.”

“Ah, never mind the details! I’m just glad we get to do it this year! Mom always makes it so boring and way too formal, so now we can make it exciting!

“Well, I’ll help where it’s needed, I suppose. But I don’t think I’ll be that big of a help. I’m not really keen for that sort of thing like you are. I honestly forgot it was coming up so soon.”

“Nah, I think I can handle this on my own, little brother. Don’t hesitate to make any suggestions, though! As long as they’re not something dumb. Oh, boy do I have some amazing things in mind for this.” He rubbed his hands together deviously. “We can have all different kinds of cake instead of just boring white cake, and we can pick the music, and even invite cute girls! Oh man, who am I gonna ask to be my date? Ah, this is gonna be great!”

Rei laughed softly at his brother. “I’m glad at least one of us is excited about it.”

“Speaking of dates, you’d want to invite Nagisa, right?”

“Well, of course I’d invite Nagisa, why wouldn’t I—wait… _d-date_?!”

“He’d definitely need a suit, then. I don’t think you got him anything that formal when you last went to get him clothes, right?”

“No, I didn’t. But, Brother, I think you’re misunderstanding something here. I mean, I’d definitely invite Nagisa, but not as—”

“Then you need to send a message to Ayako quick, the party’s only three days away! Ah wait, _I’m_ the one setting all this up, I’ll go send her the message! She already has Nagisa’s measurements, right?”

“I…yes, she does, but…”

“All right, I’m off then! I’ll let you know if I need help with anything!” He ran off the other way without another word.

“Wait! B-brother!” Rei reached out, but he had already gone. “A…date?” Rei shook his head. “No, no way it’s a date. Nagisa’s just my guest! To be a date, I’d have to be romantically interest—” Nagisa’s smile flashed in Rei’s mind again. Oh no, not this again!

Rei ran upstairs and to his bathroom to splash water on his face to calm himself down. His heart was beating fast, and even though he had just splashed water on his face, he still felt hot. Why did this keep happening? It all started that day when he nearly… _kissed_ Nagisa on the beach. He had been such a flustered mess after that incident and he couldn’t seem to get it out of his head no matter how hard he tried.

Nagisa was just so beautiful in that moment. His face flushed from running, that bright smile that faded into look of soft admiration and surprise, the sand in his hair that caught the light just right, and it was a rare moment that Rei actually let himself look closely at Nagisa’s eyes. It somehow felt reminiscent from that night Nagisa saved him; he had been holding a similar expression.

Now that Rei thought about it, that incident on the beach wasn’t really when all of this started, was it?

He had stared at him all throughout dinner on Nagisa’s first evening here, their outing in the village where they shared a dance and Rei having felt the happiest he has been in a long time, he had even said embarrassing things back when Nagisa saved his life that night. He had definitely felt a strange and new sensation during those times, but he couldn’t help but notice that the weird feeling in his chest kept getting stronger ever since that day on the beach.

Rei tried to forget about it, but things just kept happening out of his control. He became happy every time he saw Nagisa in the morning…every time he saw Nagisa in general, actually. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling when he entered the room, he caught himself staring at him more often, and Nagisa’s bright smile and eyes crossed his mind a lot; especially lately like earlier when his brother mentioned how he was acting like he used to when he was younger.

Then there was the questions with Nagisa today. Rei reached into his pocket and found the butterfly brooch. He looked at it and still could not believe that Nagisa had found it, after all these years of it being lost, it came back to him. He held it close to his chest and closed his eyes. By what weird chance could Nagisa could have come across it? He didn’t even know how close or far away Nagisa lived, so he wasn’t sure how Nagisa finding it could have been possible.

This raised a lot more questions, but he couldn’t seem to care too much about them at the moment, he was just happy to have it back; and Nagisa was the one who brought it to him. He smiled softly and thought of how Nagisa’s eyes lit up when he was answering some of the questions, and it made his heart flutter. Rei tried to shake the feeling again and put the brooch back into his pocket before he hid inside his room.

How could his brother just think that Rei would invite Nagisa as a date? Did he actually think…that he and Nagisa..? Rei wasn’t even sure what was going on with his own feelings, so how could his brother even assume that? Was he being blatantly obvious or something? The thought of his brother catching him staring at Nagisa embarrassed him and he groaned dramatically before falling onto his bed and shoving his forever red face into his pillows.

Well, date or not, Rei was still going to invite Nagisa to the party. He would just have to take this one step at a time and try to figure out what his feelings were doing. He started to feel oddly drowsy as he laid there and let himself drift off. It’s been a while since he’s had a nap, so a short one probably wouldn’t hurt.

An hour had passed before he finally woke up in a panic to look at the time, but he calmed himself once he read the clock. He rolled off the bed and stretched just as he heard a knock on his door.

“Have you been _napping_ , little brother? That’s rare.” His brother teased as he walked inside without even waiting to be invited in. Rei yawned and nodded before he looked in his vanity mirror to fix his hair. “So, I talked with Ayako and she said she could have Nagisa’s suit before Saturday, and that you can stop by on Friday to pick it up.”

“By Friday?” Rei chuckled. “She never ceases to amaze me with how fast she works. I’ll definitely have to pay her some extra for the speedy delivery.”

“No worries about that, I’ll take care of it.”

“Brother, you don’t have to do that! Nagisa’s _my_ guest, after all.”

“Yeah, yeah; but you bought his first set of clothes, so just let me pay for it this time. Besides, I’m the party planning master, so it is my duty!”

Rei breathed out a laugh and shook his head. “Okay. I’ll let the ‘party planner master’ take care of it.”

“Alright!” He pumped his fist. “Well, it’s nearly dinner and I have a few other things I need to do really quick, so I’ll see you down there!” He waved and rushed out of the room.

“See you.” Rei waved back and then returned to fixing his hair. How did it get so messy from just a nap? He sighed. “What a pain.” He plopped down onto the vanity chair and leaned in closer to the mirror. Once he spent about ten minutes doing that, he was finally satisfied and then decided to head downstairs for dinner.

He was actually starving, now that he thought about it. He had never been so preoccupied to miss a meal before, but learning more about Nagisa was definitely worth it. Rei pulled the brooch out of his pocket again to look at it. It looked almost the same as it had the day he lost it. All the gems were still in place and it still had some shine to it despite the aged look. His heart fluttered again and he had to stuff the brooch away before he started blushing in the hallway like an idiot.

He reached the bottom of the steps and noticed a certain bubbly blond skip past him.

“Oh, Nagisa, _there_ you are!”

Nagisa skidded to a halt and zoomed right back with a smile on his face.

“I was hoping I’d see you before dinner, I have some news!” Nagisa cocked his head to the side in curiosity. “My parents throw this party every summer, and it’s quite a large event with music and food and such, but Mother and Father have been called away on urgent business and they can’t attend. So they asked my Brother and me to plan and host the party this year. Though, I feel like I won’t really be contributing much considering how excited by dear old brother is about it…” He laughed and Nagisa smiled up at him. “Anyways, Nagisa…?”

Nagisa leaned a bit closer as if it was some sort of secret, and that smile made Rei nearly combust on the spot. What was wrong with him? He’s seen that smile a million times before.

“Ah…um…if you’d like to, uh, attend the party…” Rei looked away and put his hand behind his neck, which he realized was now sweating. Why did he suddenly feel so nervous? It wasn’t like he was asking Nagisa to marry him or something, which that thought in itself was absolutely ridiculous and not to mention embarrassing! He was thankful he kept that thought to himself or else he would surely die of humiliation. Rei felt Nagisa grab his hand and he looked back at him to see that he was nodding furiously.

“Ah, good!” Rei felt relieved until he looked down at Nagisa’s hand on his and tried not to blush. “I mean, I knew you’d want to go, but I’d like to, uh, formally invite you as my da—guest! As my _guest_!” Rei coughed loudly. He could not believe he almost said that! “Ahem, an-anyway…You don’t have a formal suit, so Brother asked Ayako to tailor you one before the party. I hope that’s all right with you.” Nagisa’s eyes lit up in wonder and he nodded again. “Good, she said she’ll have it done by the day after tomorrow, so we can go pick it up then.” Rei’s heart was beating a million miles an hour and it didn’t help that Nagisa’s hand was still holding on to his. He was thankful when Nagisa finally let it go when he reached into his back pocket to retrieve his notepad to write.

_“Thank you for the invitation, Rei! I’m really looking forward to it!”_

“Of course!” Rei handed the pad back to Nagisa. “The party wouldn’t be any fun without you there.” Nagisa nearly dropped the notepad upon hearing Rei’s words and a brilliant blush spread across his face. How did Rei even let that one slip out?! “Ah, um, I’ll see you at dinner. I just have to go…to the restroom really quick!” Rei backed away a few steps before he turned around and dashed down the hall to run to the closest bathroom he came to.

He closed the door behind him and leaned over the sink; this was just getting silly! Why had this gotten worse? Was it because his brother brought it up and now he was suddenly more aware of everything? Why had he let those words slip out, and was that seriously a blush on Nagisa’s face or had he been imagining it? Rei turned on the faucet and threw water on his face to calm himself for the second time that day.

He had to be overreacting, over-thinking it, he just needed to calm down and talk to Nagisa like he always has. He dried off his face and took a few deep breaths before finally stepping out of the bathroom and making his way to the dining hall.

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa was in a complete daze as he slowly made his way to the dining hall; so many crazy things had just happened. First Rei had asked him to be his special guest at this party, then he was going to be getting a suit, and then Rei said the party would be boring without him; not to mention Rei was acting so strange!

It wasn’t in a bad way, it was just different to how he normally acted around Nagisa. He just seemed so nervous and flustered, like he didn’t quite know what to say or how to form words anymore. It was actually really cute, Nagisa must admit, to see Rei so flustered like that; though Nagisa couldn’t help but wonder if he was the cause of it. Nagisa noticed Rei’s hand was shaking when he grabbed it, and Rei blushed furiously after saying what he did and then he just ran off.

Nagisa snapped out of his daze and realized he was already in the dining hall and didn’t even remember walking in. He took his usual seat and started dishing himself some food out without looking anywhere else but the food and his own plate.”

“Ah, you must be Nagisa!”

Nagisa jolted up and saw a woman with blue hair and glasses sitting across from him where Rei usually sat; it took a few seconds for Nagisa to finally process who she was and he quickly bowed his head low, nearly dipping his hair into his plate of food.

She laughed. “Oh please, none of that. We’re at the dinner table for goodness sakes.” She gestured for him to raise his head. “Nice to finally meet you, dear! My husband and I do apologize for not having met with you sooner. We have been so busy as of late, as you have probably heard all about, I’m sure. We’re so grateful to you for saving our son’s life.” She lowered her head with a thankful nod then nudged the King to the right of her, who had been talking very loudly with Goro and Rei’s brother. So _that_ must be where they inherited the loudness from. “Darling, please say hello to Nagisa.”

The King looked up from his mug and set it down firmly on the table before looking at Nagisa sternly; Nagisa gulped at the serious glare, but then the King cracked a smile and held out his hand for Nagisa to shake. “Thank you for saving our son. It’s shameful that we haven’t met with you sooner, but like my wife said, we have been so busy, I’m sure you understand.”

Nagisa gave a small nod. Although he felt nervous for meeting Rei’s parents without any warning or preparation, he was still very happy; never seeing them around anywhere made it feel like they didn’t really exist and Rei and his brother were secretly the ones running everything.

Nagisa reached into his back pocket to take out his notepad, wrote a message on there in the neatest handwriting he could manage, and handed it to the King.

_“Thank you for letting me stay here even though you didn’t even meet me yet. I’m grateful for your hospitality.”_

“Wow, Rei was right, you _are_ a great student. I’m impressed with how fast you’ve learned how to write.” Nagisa’s eyes sparkled in thanks. “And you are very welcome, Nagisa. You can stay here as long as you like, so we hope you will stay a bit longer so we can get to know you better.”

“We know our Rei would really appreciate it.” The Queen added. “He holds you in very high regard; we know how much he enjoys your company.”

Nagisa’s eyes rounded in a fixed gaze and the tiniest of red creeped onto his face. He stared at one to the other and they both had such kind smiles, it reminded him a bit of his mother’s smile. His gaze softened and he smiled back.

They were just both so kind, kinder than his own father. They let their son bring a total stranger into their home and without having even met him, and they already knew that he was a good person because of Rei told them about him. Nagisa started to dig into his food and wondered exactly _what_ Rei told them about him.

A few bites into his food was when Rei walked in and over to the table. He blushed when he saw Nagisa and averted his eyes quickly and looked instead at the Queen.

“Mother, Father. I didn’t know you’d be dining with us tonight.” He smiled and took the empty seat next to Nagisa. “It’s really nice to eat with you again.”

“We figured since we’ll be gone for a while, we should spend our last night here with our two handsome boys!” The King took a hold of Rei’s brother and twisted his fist over the top of his head.

“Ack, _Dad!_ ” The King laughed before released his hold on his son.

 “We also got to meet the famous Nagisa as well,” the Queen added. “So we’re happy we joined you.”

“I’ve been meaning to introduce you sooner. I feel bad for not doing that.” Rei said sadly as he dished out his food.

“No need to apologize, Son.” The King muttered between bites. “It’s the busiest we’ve been all year.”

“Well I, for one, am thankful for that.” Rei’s brother interrupted. “Now I can make the summer party the best it has ever been and you’ll have to permanently hand over the planning responsibilities to me, Mother.”

The Queen scoffed. “Oh, you really think so? We’ll just see about that.”

“Are you challenging me, Mother?”

“Oh you bet I am. If the party is the talk of the town and you don’t get any complaints from any of the guests, then I will step down from planning the annual summer party to you and your brother.”

“Ohoho, you’re on!”

“But!” she continued, “If you _do_ get complaints or if anything goes wrong, then that means I get to go back to planning the parties and you’ll get absolutely no say in anything. Not even the smallest of suggestions about the decorations.”

Nagisa looked up from his plate and nearly choked on his food from the hilarious pure look of horror on Rei’s brother’s face.

“That is a great risk, but I will accept your challenge.” He reached over his father and shook hands with her. “And it _will_ be the talk of the town, I guarantee you that! Food, music, dancing! But ten times better than every other year!”

The Queen smirked. “We’ll see.” She took a sip from her cup. “Though I will be sad we can’t attend, your father and I haven’t danced since the party last year; and even then we only got to share one dance.”

Nagisa perked his head up at the mention of dancing. He hadn’t thought that there would be dancing, even though dancing at a party should seem pretty obvious. Did that mean he’d get to dance with Rei again? It was so much fun the first time and…well…quite romantic too. If Nagisa got another chance to dance with Rei... His heart flipped and he snuck a side glance over to Rei who was concentrating on his food and then he looked away quickly before Rei noticed he was staring.

“But you boys can do all the dancing in our place this year.” The King added. “Though I don’t recall you dancing all that much at the party last year, Rei.”

“I didn’t have any suitable partners to dance with.”

“Well neither did Haruka, but he still did it!”

Nagisa looked up from his food again. Haru knew how to dance?

“That is because Haru has no shame whatsoever.” Rei said bluntly and Haru threw a glare over to him before shrugging in agreement. “I still think it would be more beautiful to have a partner, but none of the guests that wanted a dance were any good. I kept getting my feet stepped on and we weren’t in sync with the music. It wasn’t very beautiful at all.”

Nagisa looked down and picked at his food. He thought of dancing that day in the village again, and how he stepped on Rei’s feet and thrashed about oddly before Rei had to show him how to do it properly; he had even said his technique wasn’t beautiful at all. Nagisa’s shoulders sank at the thought. Rei ended up teaching him quite a bit, but he was still not very good, and definitely not at the level that Rei was probably looking for. Nagisa wasn’t even sure if he remembered any of the steps and he would surely make a fool of himself if he tried dancing at the party without any proper instruction from Rei again.

Rei’s brother smirked. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that this year. You have Nagisa, right?”

Nagisa perked up at the mention of his name, but then Rei spat out his drink and coughed loudly, causing Nagisa to jump and lean over to look at Rei with concern.

“Are you all right, dear?” the Queen asked worried.

“I’m-” cough “I’m fine. I was just—drinking too fast is all.” He picked up a napkin and wiped off his mouth, but he kept it close to his face, nearly covering it all, before he took a few deep breaths and set if back down on his lap. “Yes, I am fine.”

Once Rei confirmed he was okay, Nagisa started to turn his focus back to his food but spotted Rei’s brother’s face on the way; he looked like he was having a hard time holding in a laugh. Why had Rei’s brother mentioned him? He hadn’t really heard what he said other than his name. Nagisa shrugged it off, it probably wasn’t important because Rei’s brother never said anything else about it for the rest of the evening.

Nagisa reluctantly had a few more helpings of food because he didn’t want the King and Queen to think he had bad manners, but he was just so hungry since he skipped lunch that day. However, the King happily mentioned that Nagisa had a very hearty appetite and that he’d grow to be a strong, strapping young man, so Nagisa was relieved.

Dinner was over all too soon and Nagisa had to bid farewell to the King and Queen as they all left the dining hall for the evening. He really enjoyed himself despite being a little bit nervous upon meeting Rei’s parents; they were just so kind and seemed like they would be a lot of fun.

Rei was walking Nagisa up to his room as usual, although he was being oddly quiet tonight and never once looked in Nagisa’s direction until they reached the doors to Nagisa’s room.

“Well…here we are.” Rei sputtered out almost too loudly. “I um…ahem” he cleared his throat lowered his voice. “I hope you sleep well, Nagisa…” Rei turned away but Nagisa caught his arm to stop him before he could get too far. “Nagisa?”

Nagisa held out a hand to tell Rei to wait a second. He took out his notepad and wrote _“I really like your parents. They’re really nice and seem like they’re a lot of fun.”_

“Oh!” Rei smiled. “It was nice to see you get along with them so well, I was actually worried you wouldn’t like them because they can be a bit…eccentric.”

_“Well you are too, but I get along with you just fine!”_

“H-hey! I am _not_ as weird as they are!” Rei huffed.

_“Hmmm, I don’t know. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”_ Nagisa smiled widely at Rei’s scrunched up face. _“I like it though. It makes you way more interesting than anyone I’ve ever known.”_

Rei flushed and slid his glasses up his face as he looked away. “I…well….thank you.” Rei cleared his throat. “Anyway…I’m glad you finally got to meet my parents. I’ve told them a lot about you whenever I got the chance and told them how amazing you were and I…” Rei’s eyes widened and he stopped mid-sentence and stiffened up. “Ah, I didn’t realize the time, um…I should be getting to bed! We’ll be on for our run tomorrow, right?” Nagisa nodded. “Ah great! I’ll see you in the morning then. Goodnight, Nagisa!” Rei rushed off awkwardly.

Nagisa stood there in a daze again. Rei had told his parents that he was amazing and the simple thought made Nagisa so happy that he had to lean onto the wall or else he might have fallen over from the weakness in his legs.

After a few minutes of using the wall for support, Nagisa was able to stand up straight and he was so happy that he skipped into his room and leaped onto the bed to hug his pillows. Rei had told his parents that he was _amazing_!


	13. Chapter 12

Nagisa lingered in front of Haru’s room for a few moments and hoped he hadn’t gone to sleep yet. He normally took a while in the bath before he went to bed, so there was a chance he’d still be drying off or something. Nagisa clutched his notepad in his hand with a message written on it already, so he was fully prepared to ask the question that had been on his mind since dinner; he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He stood there in silence for a while and wondered if he should knock again, but as soon as he lifted his fist to the door, it opened.

 “Oh, hey.” Haru pulled the towel off of his head and let it rest on his shoulders. “Is everything okay? It’s kind of late.”

Nagisa nodded and held out his notepad for Haru to take. _“I wanted to ask if you could teach me how do dance before the party.”_

Haru yawned and handed the pad back to Nagisa. “Why? Didn’t you dance with Rei when he took you to the village?”

Nagisa wrote on the pad again. _“Yes, but I’m still not very good at it….and Rei said he wanted a dance partner that knows what they’re doing and I don’t remember anything from that day.”_

“I know Rei said that, but I’m sure he’d still dance with you even if you’re horrible at it. He did the first time right?”

Nagisa pouted. _“I know, but I want to be a suitable dance partner for Rei, and I thought it’d be fun to surprise him at the party with my beautiful new dance skills!”_

Haru sighed. “Well, I don’t really have much time to teach you anything too fancy, but I guess I could teach you a few things.”

Nagisa nearly bounced up to the ceiling and scribbled frantically on the pad. _“Really?! Thank you!”_ Nagisa threw his arms around Haru as soon as he handed the pad back to him.

“It’s not a big deal, really. I have nothing else to do tomorrow. We can start after breakfast.”

Nagisa released Haru from his death grip and wrote again. _“Sounds great! I’ll see you then!”_

“Okay. Now get some sleep.”

Nagisa nodded and hugged Haru again to say goodnight before he turned to head back to his room.

“Hey,” Haru spoke up. Nagisa turned around. “Still planning on telling Rei soon?”

Nagisa’s eyes lowered, but he still walked back over to Haru. _“I’m…working on it. I’ll definitely tell him before Sunday.”_

“Well, I’d hope so. Because if he doesn’t kiss you before then you’ll turn back, right?”

Nagisa nodded sadly and looked away.

“Try not to worry too much. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Haru stepped back into his room. “Goodnight.”

 

The next morning, Nagisa was so eager to run with Rei again that he was the first one to wake up and met Rei at his door. They walked down to the beach together and even though Rei appeared back to normal, he still seemed a bit embarrassed like he had the night before; though Nagisa joined him in the fluster fest once he caught Rei staring at him a few times.

They warmed up with stretches before they started and they took it easy running the first few times down the shore, which was actually really nice. Rei didn’t talk much the entire morning, but Nagisa didn’t mind. He just loved being able to run with him and loved the way the wind caught his hair just enough to make it slightly more disheveled than usual, which really made Rei look extremely handsome. Nagisa could practically hear Rei’s voice saying _“Unkempt hair is not beautiful, Nagisa.”_

Soon enough, if not _too_ soon, their run was over and it was time to head back up for breakfast. Nagisa was sad the run was over already, but he was excited to start his dance lessons with Haru after breakfast.

 

“You actually need my help with something?” Rei questioned his brother with a brow raised. “I thought you were the party planning master?”

“I just need your help with the guest list, you’re better at organizing that kind of stuff anyways, right?”

“Well, that is true. Will you be all right on your own today, Nagisa?”

Nagisa glanced over at Haru for a split second before nodding happily with a mouth full of food.

“Okay. We’ll be in the library if you need anything.” Rei waved and followed his brother out of the dining hall.

“How much more are you going to eat?” Haru asked once the doors closed. “Dancing around too much on a full stomach might not be the best combination.”

Nagisa pulled out his notepad. _“I’ve never gotten sick from doing anything like that, so it should be fine.”_

“Still, maybe we should wait a few minutes before we start.” Haru stood up from his chair. “Finish up and meet me in the ballroom.”

Nagisa nodded and watched Haru leave the dining hall as well. It was actually a little weird being in there alone in the quiet, especially when meals were usually very loud with Rei’s brother chatting constantly; though if Nagisa could talk, he’d probably join in and be just as loud.

 He finished the last bite on his plate and eyed the platter of bacon in front of him. There were only three more pieces left, so surely that wouldn’t hurt. He reached for them and ate them up quickly before finishing up his juice, wiping his mouth off with a napkin, and rushing out to meet Haru in the ballroom; which if he remembered correctly, was just down this hallway, then to the left? Ah, yes! There it was.

Haru was on the floor stretching his legs and didn’t look up when Nagisa entered. “You should probably stretch too.” Nagisa nodded and plopped down beside Haru to join him. “Sorry, there won’t be any music to dance to, we’ll have to do without.” Haru stood up from the floor and held out his hand to help Nagisa up. “Just to warn you, I’m not all that fantastic at dancing either, I really only know a few things Rei has taught me.”

Nagisa shot Haru a worried look. He wasn’t even that _good_? How was Nagisa supposed to impress Rei now?!

“Oi.” Haru frowned. “I’m not great, but I still know more than you, so pay attention.” Well, he did have a point. Nagisa stood up straight and nodded. “First I’m gonna teach you a basic step to get you into the rhythm, okay?” Haru started to step. “Front, back, side, side front, back, side, side. Simple, right?” Nagisa nodded and watched Haru as he demonstrated a few more times. “Now you try.”

Nagisa copied Haru’s movements and was able to get them down rather quickly. It actually wasn’t hard to do at all. Nagisa did the steps a few more times and stopped when Haru moved on to demonstrate what was next.

“So these steps are basically the same in the dance I’m going to show you, though they can vary.” Haru held out his hand again for Nagisa to take and he pulled him in and placed a hand on his waist. “Place your hand on my shoulder and follow my lead.” Nagisa nodded and Haru started to move slowly, and although the steps were simple, Haru definitely didn’t look as bad of a dancer as he said he was.

Nagisa looked down at his feet and followed Haru as best as he could, thankfully Haru moved a lot slower than Rei had when they danced that day; Nagisa had an easier time picking it up and remembering what he was supposed to do when the next step came.

“Hey, you’re not bad at this at all. You just needed to refresh your memory a bit. Let’s just practice this dance for a little longer, then I can show you a quicker one.”

 

* * *

 

“The guest list is all in check. Ah, but…” Rei lifted the pen to his mouth in thought. “I do have one small issue.”

“What’s wrong?” Rei’s brother asked while looking over his shoulder.

“Why are you inviting Kisumi? You know that he makes Haru uncomfortable.”

“Aww, c’mon! Kisumi’s a good friend of mine and he’s back in town this summer, so I actually get to invite him to the party this year! And it’s not like he’s a bad person, Haru just doesn’t like him because he’s all touchy-feely and stuff.” Rei lowered his glasses and glared at his brother. “Please, Rei? I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother Haru, okay? I’ll preoccupy him with other things! Pleeeeaaaase?! I haven’t seen him in over a year!” He whined and pouted and shot Rei the saddest looking puppy dog eyes ever.

Rei sighed. “Let me at least talk to Haru about it first, all right?”

His face brightened and he reached down to give Rei a tight hug. “Thank yoooou!”

 

* * *

 

“You sure you don’t need a break?” Haru asked while Nagisa was leaning over to catch his breath. Nagisa shook his head and stood up straight, ready for another go at the dance, which was a lot faster paced than he had anticipated. He didn’t have enough time for breaks, it was either go all out now or not at all. “Well, don’t blame me if you end up overworking yourself.”

Nagisa took a few more deep breaths and followed Haru’s lead once again. He kept tripping over his feet during this one part of the dance where the two of them had to circle around each other quickly, but he was determined to get it right this time. He would imagine dancing like this with Rei at the party and how beautiful it could be, but it would only go as planned if he worked harder and got this dance down already.

The two of them ended up dancing for a few more hours and although Nagisa felt about ready to fall over, he was satisfied with the results; he was sure he’d remember everything for the party the day after tomorrow. Though he felt kind of bad for pushing Haru into this as he seemed exhausted as well, so he thanked him profusely and made sure to apologize for the inconvenience.

“It was nothing.” Haru muttered after the two had made their way to the kitchen to get some water. “You really don’t need to keep thanking me.” He filled a glass and handed it to him. “The only thing I ask is that you tell Rei soon.”

“Tell me what?”

Haru and Nagisa jumped at the sudden intrusion and Nagisa spilled half of his water on the floor. Nagisa’s eyes went wide and he shot Haru a very panicked expression, but even though Haru was startled at first, his expression was stoic and relaxed as usual; he turned to face Rei.

“Tell you how much he’s looking forward to going back to the village tomorrow.” Haru took a long gulp from his glass, refilled it, and headed for the door. “See you at dinner.” Haru waved without turning around, and then he was gone.

 Nagisa internally sighed in relief as Rei didn’t seem to suspect anything unusual; he’d have to thank Haru again later. He sure owed Haru a lot.

“Oh, really?” Rei asked. “I know you enjoyed the village very much last time, and it _has_ been a while since then, so it makes sense. Was there anything else you wanted to do besides pick up your suit from Ayako?”

Nagisa put a finger to his mouth in thought and then nodded before he took out his notepad to write. _“I’d love to get some ice cream again, if that’d be all right!”_

Rei chuckled. “Of course it would. And I’d be happy to walk you around town again if you think of any else you’d like to do.” Nagisa cracked a small smile and nodded at Rei before writing out a quick ‘thank you’ on his note pad. “Ah, that reminds me,” Rei said once he took a look at the pad. “There was something I wanted to discuss with you.”

Nagisa lowered his eyebrows. Something he wanted to discuss? That sounded kind of serious and Nagisa’s heart started to race. What did he want to talk about? Was something wrong? Was he going to ask more questions Nagisa wasn’t ready to answer yet?

“It’s nothing serious.” Rei quickly added. “Just something that’s been on my mind. Do you mind following me to the library?” Nagisa shook his head and followed Rei down the hallway.

Even though Rei said it wasn’t anything serious, Nagisa couldn’t help but still feel a bit worried. Something not that serious to Rei could mean something completely different to Nagisa; what would Nagisa tell Rei if he asked him what happened with the night of the storm? He was still very unprepared for that and he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

They made it to the library and Rei asked Nagisa to sit while he walked over to the book case, took a few books off of the shelf, and placed the small stack of books on the table before he took a seat next to Nagisa. Nagisa looked over at one of the books and couldn’t quite make out the words because the cover was worn out.

Rei cleared his throat. “So, I have been thinking about how you communicate with others and I worry that carrying around that pad all day might get a little troublesome for you.”

Well, Rei wasn’t wrong about that; there were definitely times when having to write everything down was a bit of a bother when just being able to talk would have made things easier, but he supposed it wasn’t too bad since he was able to communicate at all.

“I remember coming across these books a few times while just searching around the library for nothing in particular and I wanted to ask if maybe you’d like to try learning sign language.”

Nagisa narrowed his brows in confusion. _Sign Language_? What was _that_?

“Do you…not know what sign language is?”

Nagisa shook his head slowly and started to worry again. Was he _supposed_ to know what sign language was?

“Oh, well it’s a different way for people who can’t hear or speak to communicate, and you wouldn’t have to use that pad all of the time. You use your hands and make certain gestures with them to communicate with others.”

 _Oh!_ Nagisa realized. The fish folk actually had something very similar to that for those who were vocally or hearing impaired, he just didn’t know the human name for it.

“It might take a while to learn because of how different it is,” Rei continued, “And I know that you are still learning how to write, but I’ll be learning it with you so we can both communicate like that together. Th-that is if you want to try it out. It’ll be your decision entirely, I’m just letting you know that this time you won’t be alone in the learning process and we can struggle with it together.”

Nagisa was speechless…well, he would have been if he could speak, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Rei was actually…willing to learn something like that for him? He already knew how to read and write perfectly, so merely reading Nagisa’s messages on a note pad would be the easiest thing in the world for him to do; but he was actually willing to learn this entirely new language with him just so he’d have an easier time? Nagisa’s eyes trembled and they started to water, but he quickly wiped the tears away on his sleeve as to not cause any worry. He smiled brightly and flung his arms around Rei, nodding excitedly into his shoulder.

“So, that’s a yes?” Nagisa pulled away from the hug and kept nodding, trying hard not to just cry right there. He had no idea why he felt like crying, it was such a simple thing, but it somehow meant the world to him. “Great! We can start lessons after the party then, if that’s all right with you?”

 Nagisa nodded again, pulling Rei back into a hug and Rei relaxed into it quickly. It was a nice moment, and Nagisa felt like they would both be content with just sitting there and embracing forever, but then Nagisa suddenly realized that the day after the party was his last day…it was the last time he’d ever see Rei unless Rei kissed him before then; Nagisa gradually loosened his grip from around Rei’s back and released himself from the hug. Rei then turned back to look at the books, having not noticed Nagisa’s sudden change in mood.

There would be no lessons if that didn’t happen, and with the sudden realization of the deadline soon, Nagisa started to panic. What if Rei didn’t kiss him by then? What if Rei didn’t even love him back? What if…what if…Nagisa looked up at Rei’s smiling face as he flipped through the pages of one of the books he took off of the shelf.

No. _No_ , he shouldn’t think like that. There was a high chance Rei felt the same, there had to be. Nagisa didn’t want to get his hopes up, but being negative about this entire thing wasn’t going to help him, so the best thing he could do was to be confident and brave and just see how things panned out before Sunday. He took a deep breath and turned to Rei to ask him if he could show him some of the books.

 

* * *

 

Rei was extremely happy that Nagisa accepted his offer to learn sign language and he was eager to get started. He never really had much interest in learning it, but he would learn it a million times if it meant that Nagisa had an easier time communicating with him.

The two of them got called to dinner not long after Rei started to show Nagisa the books he had collected from the shelf, so he reluctantly put them away and walked down to the dining hall. It was oddly quiet tonight, obviously more so than the previous night with his parents there to join them, but it wasn’t really a bad thing. Rei was actually relieved that his brother was looking over party things at the table so he wasn’t jabbering on loudly like he usually did.

Although, because it was so quiet, Rei wasn’t really sure of what to do with himself. He usually had a book with him to glance over as he ate, but hadn’t been bringing them to meals lately since he always ended up averting his eyes from the text and over to the energetic blond that sat across from him, and then eventually right _next_ to him; which Rei realized he was doing it again at that very moment. Nagisa looked up from his plate and smiled at Rei, who quickly looked away and took a sip from his cup; his heart completely flipping over in his chest.

There was that sensation again, it just kept getting stronger and stronger every day. Sometimes he felt so embarrassed that he wanted to run away and hide his face forever, and other times he felt like his heart was leaping into his throat and it was hard to catch his breath and he didn’t know what to make of it all.

Actually, no, that was a lie. Rei _did_ know what to make of it, he just never thought it could happen to him. He was raised by two parents who were very much in love and were never modest about it, so he was exposed to it from a very young age; and he definitely thought it had a certain beauty to it, but he _himself_ falling in love? It just didn’t really seem…logical.

Upon learning about romantic love when he was younger, Rei read many books about it and found out that there was actually a science to it all and it was truly fascinating to him.

As he grew older, however, it started to make less and less sense to him. He’d look around at couples in the streets of the village, holding hands and kissing each other before departing, and even though they looked happy, Rei never really felt the desire to have that kind of happiness. Even when his brother had started taking an interest in romance and began courting, Rei found he would just rather stay at home to read.

No matter how many times Rei’s brother would talk about how fun courting was, and how amazing the butterflies in his stomach felt when he had his first kiss, especially when Rei felt nothing of the sort during his own first kiss, Rei still had no interest in falling in love and really had no problems with never doing so; but then the beautiful, wonderful Nagisa Hazuki came crashing into his life and everything changed.

What once seemed illogical to him, now seemed very probable and it was actually scary to think about because he never felt like this before and everything seemed to be happening so fast. Could someone really develop feelings that quickly? Didn’t that just mean that the feelings weren’t anything more than infatuation? But how could they be with this being the first time Rei had ever had these feelings?

It was just so frustrating to think about, but no matter how Rei looked at it, all of the signs seemed to point to yes, that he did have feelings for Nagisa; but he still just couldn’t wrap his mind around it. _Him,_ in _love?_ There was just no way, was there?

Dinner was over sooner than Rei realized, probably because he was lost in his thoughts, and he bid every one goodnight and walked Nagisa up to his room like usual. Rei couldn’t help but notice Nagisa’s closeness and tried very hard to not accidentally brush their hands together or some other ridiculous thing that might cause Rei to blush out of control.

He bid Nagisa goodnight once they reached the room and received that familiar warm smile just like he had every night. Rei smiled back and made it to his room to change quickly before getting into bed. He rolled over onto his side and took a deep breath. He _needed_ to figure this out. All the signs pointed to love, but he just couldn’t believe it. There had to be some sort of other reason for all of this. All of this blushing and smiling and stomach flipping and…and thoughts about kissing, all of it.

He groaned and buried his face into his pillow. He hated feeling like this while simultaneously wished these feelings would never stop. He loved that little weird feeling in his stomach when Nagisa smiled at him, but he hated feeling so confused, he hated feeling frustrated, and he hated that he couldn’t find a logical explanation for any of this. He just…he just wanted to figure this out as soon as possible, but he really wasn’t sure how.

“Grandmother,” He whispered. “I wish you were here. I’m feeling so many new things and…I’m happy. I’m really _really_ happy but…I still need to figure this out because I’m afraid and I don’t know what to do.” He took a deep breath and let his eyes start to close, suddenly feeling exhausted.

_“And here it is!”_

_“Woah! It’s so cool, Grandma!”_

_The two young boys walked out from behind their grandmother and admired the beautiful scenery before them._

_“I knew you two would appreciate this place as much as I do. I’m happy I finally got the chance to show it to you.”_

_The younger boy with glasses took his eyes off of the site for a moment to address his grandmother. “So this is the place you come to when you want a peaceful place to read?”_

_“That it is, Rei. Now I can bring you and your brother with me so I can read to you.”_

_“Really?!” The older boy exclaimed in wonder._

_“Of course.” The elder smiled kindly at them. “Although, it is more than just a place to read in peace. I have encountered many amazing things here. This is also a great place to come to just think, to sort things out, and clear your mind. I used to come here a lot when I was stressed and it helped to calm me down. Just the soft sound of the frogs and the peacefulness of the still water…it really did wonders. This was also the place that I realized I was in love with your grandfather.”_

_The older boy gasped. “You didn’t love Grandpa right away?!”_

_She laughed. “I_ always _loved your grandpa. He was a wonderful and kind man, but I never truly realized it until much later after I had met him. Something about this place made me realize it one day, so I told him right after that…and the rest is history.” She looked back at her boys from gazing at the water. “So, even if I don’t take you here myself, I would still hope that you two will come here whenever you feel the need for it. Whether it’s for just a quiet place to read, or a place to clear your head, I hope this place becomes of use to you as it did for me. Anyways, I need to show you the willow. Follow me!”_

 

Rei’s eyes fluttered open, he must have drifted off while still in thought. He sat up and realized the dream had not been a dream, but a memory. He felt guilty for almost having forgotten about that place, it had actually been a few years since he’d been there; he wasn’t sure about his brother, but he didn’t think he went to visit there much anymore either. It just became difficult to go there after their grandmother passed away, and then eventually Rei had just kept going less and less until he finally stopped altogether.

But…that was the place he needed _now_ , wasn’t it? A place to just go and think, a place to figure things out; but it was late, and he couldn’t just leave to go there in the middle of the night. He put his finger to his mouth in thought. Perhaps he could go tomorrow when he and Nagisa went to town, but he couldn’t just leave Nagisa alone, that would be very rude. Not to mention he wouldn’t want to miss even a single minute of their outing together.

Rei thought deeply for a few minutes before it finally hit him; why not just bring Nagisa with him? Nagisa wasn’t exactly a loud person, so he’d still be able to have the quiet he needed; not to mention that this was definitely a place he’d love to show Nagisa.

So it was settled, Rei nodded to himself and laid his head back on the pillow to sleep. He took a few slow steady breaths before closing his eyes; he was going to figure this all out.

 

* * *

 

“Ready to go, Nagisa?” Rei asked after Nagisa had just finished putting on his shoes. He nodded and hopped up onto his feet to hurry to the door. He latched onto Rei’s arm as they walked down the hall and stairs, and was very pleased with how Rei was trying to cover up his blush. They made it out of the front door and found the carriage waiting for them; Nagisa ran ahead to pet Kuri before Rei helped him onto the carriage.

He then climbed up himself and settled in next to Nagisa. Nagisa was so excited to go back into the village. It kind of felt like the two of them haven’t really done much together lately since their lessons weren’t as intense anymore, so a trip to the village was just what they needed. Nagisa sighed happily at the thought. Just the two of them on their own outing again. Rei took hold of the reins and was about ready to set off when there was a slam of the door and they looked off to their side to see Rei’s brother rushing out to them.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving already?!”

Rei gaped at him. “I wasn’t aware I needed to.”

“Well yeah! I ordered a new suit too and I wanted to come with you so I can try it on before tomorrow!”

“But you have plenty of suits just hanging in your closet. Why did you order another one?”

“Because this is the first time I’m hosting the party, so I just _have_ to have a brand new suit, don’t you think? Anyways, make some room, I’m coming up there!” Rei’s brother climbed up onto the carriage and awkwardly stepped across Rei to sit in between him and Nagisa.

“H-hey…” Rei stammered. “Wouldn’t you rather have the side seat? There’s um…more room.”

“Nah, then I’d have to be the one to drive and I don’t really feel like driving today.”

Rei’s eyes lowered, seemingly disappointed. “Oh,” he looked forward again. “Alright then.”

Rei took a hold of the reins again and guided Kuri out of the courtyard and down the road.

 _Well, so much for it just being the two of them_ , Nagisa thought, crossing his arms. Why did Rei’s brother have to sit in between them? Not even 5 minutes into the outing and it was already off to an irritating start. If they hadn’t left already, he might have asked Rei’s brother if they could switch places and just use Rei’s excuse that it has more room. Rei’s brother _was_ a lot taller than Nagisa, so it wouldn’t look too suspicious.

Nagisa kept eyeing Rei every so often as they rode down the road, and turned away blushing every time because Rei’s brother started to notice and would smirk at the blond. While Nagisa was turned away, he heard Rei’s brother laugh under his breath and Nagisa started to worry that he was laughing at him until the carriage suddenly started to swerve off to the side of the road.

“What in the world are you doing, Rei?! Watch the road!” Rei’s brother laughed and Nagisa looked over to notice Rei’s blushing face.

“S-sorry.” Rei sputtered. He shot a quick side glance to Nagisa before coughing and looking forward and steering Kuri straight. What had caused Rei to almost run the carriage off the road? Was he glancing at him when he wasn’t looking as well?

Nagisa shrugged it off and looked away from Rei, but not before noticing Rei’s brother leaning over and whispering into Rei’s ear. “You two just can’t keep your eyes off of each other, can you?”

Nagisa couldn’t hear what Rei’s brother had said, but it must have been quite something to get such a reaction from Rei as he had starting steering Kuri off of the road again.

“BROTHER! You can’t just—”

“The _road,_ Rei. Watch the _road!”_

“Argh, right! Sorry!”

Rei’s brother laughed again. “Maybe I _should_ have driven today.”

Rei leaned close to his brother again, this time keeping his eyes on the road, and he angrily whispered at him. Something that sounded like “stop embarrassing me!”

“Pfft, don’t blame me. You embarrass yourself.”

So Nagisa _had_ heard right. Though he wished he could have heard what Rei’s brother had said to make Rei react like that and almost crash the carriage again, but he still smiled into his hand and breathed out a soundless laugh.

The rest of the ride into the village was pretty quiet other than the sound of Kuri’s hooves on the cobblestone path. When they finally arrived, the villagers waved and greeted the three of them as they drove past, which Nagisa responded to with a bright smile and waved back to everyone.

Rei parked the carriage in the same lot near the stable as he did when they went to the village the first time and hopped out before his brother could awkwardly shimmy himself over Rei’s lap again. Nagisa slid over the empty seats and Rei took his hand to help him out.

“I uh, I’m really sorry about nearly crashing the carriage…twice.”

Nagisa smiled and could have laughed, but he pinched his lips together and proceeded to shake his head to indicate it was fine. That didn’t stop Rei from looking extremely embarrassed, though.

“Come on, you two!” Rei’s brother yelled from across the street. They both nodded and finally made their way to Ayako’s shop. When they walked through the door, she was at the counter reading like before and looked up at the sound of the bell.

“Prince Rei! It’s so good to see ya!” She walked around the counter and hugged him. “Good, I see you’ve brought your brother as well!” She pinched his cheek. “How come ya never visit me anymore, ya little rascal?”

“Hey, I call frequently, don’t I?”

“Well I suppose, but ya know that’s not the same.” She glanced over to Nagisa. “It’s wonderful to see ya again, dear.” She took a step back from the boys and put her arms on her hips. “So, I have the suits ready, who will be the first to try theirs on?”

“Me, me!” Rei’s brother hopped up. “I’ve fitted for a suit before, so I’ll be faster.”

“Very well then!” He and Ayako went to the back of the shop as Rei and Nagisa took a seat in the front.

“Oh!” Rei suddenly exclaimed, and Nagisa glanced over. “Maybe we can pick you up some running clothes while we’re here.”

Nagisa perked up and nodded in delight. He had almost forgotten that he had to keep borrowing Haru’s clothes for their run every morning.

“And then ice cream after this?” Rei asked and Nagisa nodded. “Alright, sounds like a plan.” Rei settled back into his chair for a moment before leaning back over. “Oh, and um, Nagisa?” Nagisa looked over again. “There was actually a place I wanted to show you after that; if there wasn’t anything else you wanted to do, that is.”

Nagisa reached into his pocket to retrieve the notepad and wrote, _“I’d love to!”_

Rei smiled. “Great!” The two of them sat there in silence for only a few more minutes before Ayako and Rei’s brother finally returned.

“Looks like you’re all set. Your turn now, Nagisa!” Nagisa stood up and walked over to Ayako as Rei’s brother took his seat. “Oh, you’ll just look absolutely lovely in this suit, Nagisa. I can’t wait to see ya in it!”

Nagisa smiled and then whipped out his notepad, having remembered that Ayako said he should let her know when he could write so they could chat. _“Thank you so much for making this for me on such short notice. I’m sure it will be beautiful.”_

“Well would ya look at that!” She looked over her shoulder and yelled to the front of the store. “You’re quite the teacher there, Rei! He’s already writin’ such full sentences!” She turned back to Nagisa. “Now we can chat, how fun!” She led Nagisa to the back room and had him stand on the stool so she could whip out the suit and help him get it on.

It was a lot more complex than the regular day clothes that Nagisa was used to, but he was thankful that Ayako was there to help him with it. Once everything was on and Nagisa finished the last few buttons, Ayako brought him to the tall mirror so he could check it out. He smiled widely at the sight of everything all put together. The dress shirt was a silky pink, the bow tie was a pale yellow with a waist coat to match, and plus a black jacket with a longer bit of fabric on the backside that Nagisa couldn’t remember the name of, but it kind of reminded him of a penguin.

“Don’t ya just _love_ it?” Ayako said while also looking at his reflection. “I thought the colors would go well with your eyes and I was right!”

Nagisa turned to Ayako with a huge smile and hugged her before he was able to get a hold of his notepad to thank her properly.

“Oh, you’re very welcome, dear. Ya look very lovely in this. Oh, I wish I could be there to see the look on Rei’s face when he sees ya in it.”

Nagisa lowered his brows in confusion and wrote, _“Why wouldn’t you? Aren’t I going to walk out and show him?_ ”

“Hehe, nope! It’ll ruin the surprise, don’t ya think?”

_“What do you mean by surprise?”_

“Oh, ya know! When ya walk down the stairs and into the party tomorrow, and then Rei spots ya from afar and is stunned by your beauty! _That_ kind of a surprise.”

Nagisa stiffened and a huge blush formed across his face. She…she couldn’t know, could she? How would she have known? He never said anything. Did _Rei_ say something?

“What’cha so shocked about? Aren’t ya two going as dates?”

Nagisa blushed even more. How on earth did she come to _that_ conclusion?! _“No, we…Rei just invited me as his guest, he never said anything about a date!”_

“Really? That’s strange. When Rei’s brother called me up the other day to order the suits he mentioned that Rei had invited ya as his date. Sorry if I misunderstood anything there.”

Nagisa blushed and fumbled with the notepad before writing on it again. _“No, it’s okay…really.”_

“Though, if it’s not too bold for me to say,” she leaned a little closer to Nagisa and said in a hushed voice. “The two of ya would make a very lovely couple.” Nagisa choked on his breath and had to look away because he must have been extremely red by now. Why would Rei’s brother even say that they were going as dates? Was he just teasing Rei or something? He _did_ seem to like doing that as he just did it while they were in the carriage earlier. “So, I suppose that means ya could show Rei now, if you’d like.”

Nagisa looked in the mirror and wondered. What if Rei _did_ have that kind of reaction when first seeing him at the party tomorrow? The situation would definitely have a better effect than if he were to just show Rei the suit right now. So he looked to Ayako and shook his head.

“No? So you’d _like_ to surprise him then, hm?” She smirked and Nagisa blushed again. “Hehe, don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

Ayako helped Nagisa change back into his normal clothes and then they headed out to the front.

“Aww, so we don’t get to see how Nagisa looks in the suit?” Rei’s brother whined.

“Ah oops! Must have completely slipped my mind, sorry about that.” Ayako winked at Nagisa.

“The party’s tomorrow, Brother. We’ll get to see him in it soon enough.” Rei stood up. “I’m sure that it will be lovely.”

“Of course it will, _I_ made it, didn’t I?”

“Yes, of course.” Rei smiled. “Oh, I had another request, actually. Do you have any running clothes in Nagisa’s size?”

“Runnin’ clothes? I don’t think I have anything like that at the moment. I’ll have to look around and I’ll let ya know if I do!”

“Thank you, Ayako.”

“Yes, thanks, Ayako! You’re seriously the best!” Rei’s brother walked to the counter and paid her while she properly packaged the suits. “Still wish you’d had been able to come to the party, though.”

“As do I.” She sighed. “Far too busy this weekend, I’m afraid.”

“You really deserve a night off, Ayako.” Rei added. “You’ve been working so hard.”

“Ah, that’s okay. Maybe I can come to the party next year!”

“Thanks again, Ayako! See you later!” Rei’s brother took the packages and waved as the three of them left the shop. “So, where to now?”

“Um, actually I was going to take Nagisa to get some ice cream and—”

“Ooh, ice cream sounds great! Let’s go!”

“I…” Rei sighed. “Fine, just come right along, dear Brother.” Rei’s brother led the way to the ice cream place and Nagisa took note of the way that Rei aggressively shoved his glasses up his nose.

When they got to the ice cream place, Rei’s brother thrust the packages into Rei’s hands and walked up to the window to order.

“Good afternoon! I’ll take one vanilla, one chocolate, aaand…” He glanced back at Rei. “What kind does Nagisa like?”

“Strawberry.” Rei sighed out, visibly annoyed with his brother’s presence.

“And one strawberry please.”

“Here you are, your highness.” The cheery woman behind the window handed the ice creams out and Rei’s brother set the coins on the sill.

“Thank you very much!”

Nagisa was excited to eat strawberry ice cream again and started to gobble it up quickly before he felt an ache in his head and remembered Rei’s warning about getting ice cream headaches if you ate it too fast. So he waited for the small headache to pass, thankfully it only lasted a few seconds, and then he ate the rest of it at a slower pace.

“So, was there any place else you wanted to go, Nagisa?” Rei asked as warmly as he possibly could even though his irritation from his brother still showed.

Nagisa pondered for a moment and took out his notepad to write when a high-pitched scream that came out of nowhere caused him to drop it on the ground.

“Oh my goodness, Prince Ryugazaki?!”

Nagisa picked up the notepad and looked over at the culprit as the other two had to find a middle-aged woman in a lovely gown, much fancier than the standard villager.

“Lady Chikako!” Rei’s brother exclaimed. “It’s been so long!” The woman hurried over and kissed both of his cheeks. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until the party tomorrow. What a nice surprise!”

“It really is nice to see you, my boy. It’s been a few years, hasn’t it?” She looked over and noticed Rei. “Oh my, is this your younger brother?” She asked the older prince, and he nodded. “My, how you’ve grown!” She kissed both of Rei’s cheeks as well, which startled him. “Oh, apologies, you probably don’t remember me, but the last time I saw you, you barely came up to my hip.” She held out her hand. “I’m Lady Chikako!”

“Oh!” Rei took her hand. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Your brother sure grew into such a handsome young man.” She giggled at Rei’s brother before noticing Nagisa finally. “Oh! And who is _this_ handsome young man?”

Rei turned to face Nagisa and placed a hand on his shoulder. “This is my very close friend, Nagisa Hazuki.”

“He saved Rei from drowning about a month ago!” Rei’s brother added.

“I’m not sure I know of the Hazuki family, but that is quite heroic of you, Nagisa.” She walked closer to him and put a hand on his cheek. “Such lovely eyes, and such a youthful face! How old are you, dearie?

“He’s sixteen.” Rei answered. “And I would be surprised if you _had_ heard of his family. Nagisa isn’t from around here.”

“Well, surely this young man can answer for himself.” Chikako laughed.

“I’m sure he would, but I’m afraid Nagisa can’t speak.”

“Oh, that is quite unfortunate.” She frowned and turned back to Rei. “I simply _must_ introduce you to my daughters at the party tomorrow!”

“Ah, um…of course.” Rei looked away from her and Nagisa could just hear the discomfort in Rei’s voice.

“But for now, why don’t you three join me for lunch? It would be nice to catch up and chat!”

“Well, actually, um…” Rei started.

“We’d love to!” Rei’s brother interrupted.

“Splendid! Then I can have you all to myself since I know you’ll be busy with everyone else tomorrow.” Rei’s brother led the four of them to a café near the square where Nagisa and Rei shared their first dance. Nagisa smiled at the memory and glanced up at Rei who was visibly frustrated. Nagisa turned to face him and placed a hand on his arm to ask what was wrong.

Rei stopped walking and looked over at Nagisa sadly. “I apologize for this, Nagisa. I didn’t even know my brother would be joining us today. It’s just…I hoped that this outing would be just the two of us…” Nagisa’s eyes sparkled at the words. “I mean, well, I uh…I really wanted to show you this place before it got dark, but I guess…maybe another time.” Rei turned away from Nagisa and then continued to walk.

Nagisa pursed his lips. He wanted to see this place too, whatever this place was, so he took Rei’s arm to get his attention.

“What is it?”

Nagisa looked up ahead at Rei’s brother and Lady Chikako and then back at Rei, then he looked around before he jerked his head to the side.

“Nagisa!” Rei exclaimed almost melodramatically. “Are you…are you suggesting that we _ditch_ them?”

Nagisa bit his bottom lip mischievously and Rei looked over his shoulder and at his brother and Lady Chikako, then back to Nagisa. “I…I don’t know about this, Nagisa…” he began seriously, but then his tone turned playful. “But just this once.”


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't quite make it before Reigisa week ended, but that's okay, it wasn't a prompt anyway. This is seriously one of my favorite chapters, so I really hope you like it too!
> 
> For this chapter, feel free to listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axZ6mG__ZqU because it definitely helps with the mood I think ;D  
> And then there's also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NxCYGjTg84 so you're not left wondering what it sounds like.

Nagisa hopped excitedly and clapped his hands; he wasn’t sure he’d get Rei to agree, but he did and now they were walking away from the restaurant with Rei leading the way to the special place he wanted to show him.

“Hey,” came the voice of Rei’s brother, which caused them to stop suddenly and slowly turn their heads back around. “Where are you going? We’re getting seated, come on.”

Rei and Nagisa looked at each other and then back at Rei’s brother. Nagisa liked Rei’s brother usually, but he was very annoyed with him today and he knew that Rei was too. Nagisa looked to Rei again and took his hand; Rei glanced in his direction and nodded.

Nagisa grinned widely and tightened his grip on Rei’s hand before the two of them turned again and started running away from the restaurant.

“H-HEY!” Rei’s brother yelled. “What are you doing?! You can’t just—get back here!”

“I’m sorry, Brother!” Rei called as he led Nagisa down the street. “Have fun with Lady Chikako!”

“Rei stop! I hope you know you’re being extremely rude for just leaving us like this!” Rei ignored his brother and Nagisa heard him chuckle under his breath before he rounded the corner and tugged Nagisa in after him; he pulled Nagisa closer to the wall and quieted his breathing. Rei’s brother passed right by and didn’t see them.

Rei snuck a look around the corner and peered down the street to see if the coast was clear. He looked back to Nagisa, nodded his head, and the two of them quickly ran in the other direction to leave the village.

“I still can’t believe we just did that!” Rei laughed out as he and Nagisa exited the main gate of the village. “I’ve never done something like that before, but…it was exciting!”

Nagisa threw Rei an “I told ya so” look and caught Rei’s eyes. They were so full of happiness and excitement, and were probably the most animated his eyes have ever looked since Nagisa first saw them. Suddenly, Rei’s eyes looked away shyly, and Nagisa realized that he must have been staring at him for too long.

Rei cleared his throat. “Well, now that we’ve successfully slipped away, we can go to the place I wanted to show you.”

Nagisa raised his brows in wonderment as Rei took a hold of his hand again and led him down the path until they were about half way to the castle. Rei then turned off the path and onto a little road hidden beneath the trees; Nagisa was surprised he hadn’t spotted it the last time they came to the village. It was silent most of the way down this hidden road, but Rei spoke up eventually.

“This is one of my favorite places. I used to come here to read all of the time because of how peaceful it was, but I haven’t really made time for myself to come back here in a while.”

Nagisa wasn’t sure how far down the path they would go, but just as soon as he thought that, Rei turned and led Nagisa off the path and through a patch of thicker trees. Nagisa followed and ran face first into a tree branch that nearly knocked him over; luckily he was still holding on to Rei’s hand so he didn’t fall.

“Are you alright?!” Nagisa gave a toothy grin and nodded. It was really cute how Rei always worried about him so much. “Sorry about that! I just got a little bit excited.” Rei rubbed the back of his neck nervously and looked ahead. “It’s definitely been a way too long since I’ve been here. It shouldn’t be too much farther now, though. So, watch your step.”

They went just a little bit deeper into the trees, and just as Rei had said, it hadn’t been too much farther because Rei stopped once they reached a different set of trees that Nagisa had never seen before. The leaves from them draped down into a beautiful canopy of vines that reached all the way down to the ground. Rei parted them and stepped through. “It’s this way.”

Nagisa followed him into the canopy and walked to the other side where Rei parted the leaves once again. Nagisa’s mouth dropped and his eyes stared in amazement at the sight. Hidden behind the canopy was a blue lagoon surrounded by the same trees and bright flowers Nagisa could only ever dream about before.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Rei smiled. “It still looks the same since the last time I was here. I loved sitting under this tree to read until it got dark. Sometimes it just go too cramped to read in the library, and I remember that my brother and I used to come here all of the time to play, and my grandmother used to read to us sometimes.” Rei took a deep breath. “It’s such a nice quiet place.”

Nagisa had a hard time deciding if he wanted to gaze at the lovely scenery, or the look of complete contentment on Rei’s face, he just looked so relaxed and happy to be here. Nagisa could stare at Rei all day, but a blush quickly creeped across his cheeks and he looked away. His eyes then fell on a small dock around the bend that had a little row boat attached to it. His eyes perked up and he started to wander in that general direction to take a closer look.

“Oh, right! I had almost forgotten about that boat. Grandmother used to take my brother and me on rides sometimes, that way we could go underneath the weeping willow canopy that’s in the water. There were a lot of lovely water lilies over there.”

Nagisa looked further out into the lagoon and spotted the tree that Rei was walking about. It was quite far, but he could still tell how beautiful the light shined on the leaves.

Rei walked over and leaned down to check out the row boat. “Wow, it looks like it still floats!”

Nagisa turned his head away from the lagoon and back to Rei quickly; his eyes lit up and he took a closer look, intrigued with the small boat.

“Did you…want to go for a ride?”

Nagisa grinned widely and nodded his head so fast it might have come off. He’d never been in a row boat before…he hadn’t even been in a normal sized boat before, so this was extremely exciting.

“Well, all right. Let me just check if it’s okay to still use.” Rei balanced himself and slowly stepped off of the dock and into the boat. He only wobbled a little, but was perfectly fine once he was all the way in. He took a look around the floor of the boat and checked for any holes or other dangers before he spoke. “Seems to be fine.”

Nagisa lit up again and nearly jumped into the boat right away, but Rei caught on to what he was going to do and stopped him.

“Nagisa, _slowly_. You don’t want to tip us over, do you?” Nagisa gave a devious look as if that had been his intention all along. “Now don’t you even _think_ about it. I know this water isn’t really that deep, but I would rather not need any saving today if that’s what it came to.”

Nagisa gave a soundless laugh and proceeded to slowly get into the boat, using Rei’s extended hand to help as a balance. Nagisa settled in nicely and Rei untied the rope from the post and took the oars in hand to start rowing.

“I remember my brother and I used to fight over who would get to row, so we always had to compromise by sitting next to each other and rowing it together or else we would never get anywhere. So, I must say it’s kind of nice to row it by myself for once.”

Rei’s arms moved back and forth, rowing at a steady pace, and Nagisa couldn’t help but notice that Rei seemed to be leaning in closer with every push and pull of the oars; and each time Nagisa locked eyes with him and started feeling the blush creep over his face again, so he tried to avert his gaze to the scenery instead. It was such a lovely place and he’d love to come here to swim sometime; which, now that he thought about it, he hadn’t done once since he’d been a human. He wasn’t even sure if he knew _how_ to swim as a human. It couldn’t be that different, right? You would just…kick your legs around…right? Maybe he should have asked Haru how, but the thought just never crossed his mind.

Nagisa shook off the thought, he shouldn’t worry about it now. It’s not like he’d have to do much swimming in this shallow water anyway. They were now nearing the willow tree Rei had mentioned and Nagisa saw there was a small opening in the canopy of leaves that was the perfect size for the boat to fit through.

“Ah, looks like we’re here.” Rei turned around somewhat and continued to row until they were underneath the tree.

 

* * *

 

Rei’s face softened at Nagisa’s reaction to all of the scenery; he seemed genuinely amazed at everything. Nagisa looked down at the water and saw lily pads floating about with pretty pink and white flowers on top of some of them; there was even a few frogs sitting on them, and Nagisa looked at them in wonder and tried to reach out to touch one of them before they quickly hopped off the pad and into the water.

Nagisa looked a little disappointed that it hopped away, but he still gave a bright smile and a laugh. Well, it wasn’t exactly a laugh since Nagisa had no voice to carry into a laugh, but he made the motion to do it quite often; he did it _so_ often, in fact, that it actually made Rei think of something he had been meaning to ask.

“Nagisa, can I ask you another question?” Nagisa leaned back into the boat and nodded. “Well, this might sound a bit odd, but um…have you…always not been able to talk?”

Nagisa seemed a little shocked by the question, but then his eyes lowered sadly and he shook his head.

“So does that mean that you lost the ability to speak?” Nagisa didn’t look up and nodded solemnly. “O-oh, I see. That’s really unfortunate. I always wonder about what your voice would sound like if you were able to talk, and I imagine that your laugh is very lovely.”

Nagisa looked up and his eyes weren’t sad anymore, but full of surprise; they even shined a little bit.

“N-not that there’s anything wrong with you not being able to speak now! I think you’re perfect just the way you are. It just…seems unfair, y’know? You…” Rei looked away from Nagisa’s eyes and rubbed the back of his neck shyly. “You’re a very beautiful person, Nagisa. So I imagine that your voice would have been too.”

Nagisa’s face turned a brilliant red and he gaped at Rei for a moment before Rei realized what he had just let himself blurt out. How could he have said something so utterly embarrassing without even a second thought?

“Aahaha, an-anyway, I—” Rei stammered out quickly to try and change the subject and took a hold of the oars to row a few more times, not to go anywhere, but to get rid of all of this nervous energy. Once he looked back at Nagisa’s face, however, he made direct contact with his eyes once again and he nearly melted at the sight. Just mere seconds ago, they were rounded with surprise, but now they were lidded and dazed; and Nagisa’s expression had changed from bewildered to…what was it…admiration? Contentment? Whatever it was, it was the softest smile Rei had ever seen on Nagisa’s face before, and it made his stomach flip over and he was suddenly having a hard time breathing.

It was that feeling again so he cleared his throat and looked away for a second to compose himself, but once he looked back, Nagisa was still staring at him with that same expression…he even almost seemed lost in his gaze; and the funny thing was, Rei couldn’t help but stare back with, what he could only imagine, the same expression.

They sat there in complete silence, the only sound around them being the soft sound of crickets chirping and frogs ribbitting, and they just sat there staring at each other with nothing weird about it. In fact, it almost felt like it was one of the most comfortable things in the world.

Rei felt a sudden warmth in his chest; his mouth was dry, his breath was shaky, and he wasn’t sure if his heart would survive at the rate it was suddenly traveling. At some point, Rei had reached a hand out and laid it on top of Nagisa’s and he hadn’t even realized it. He wasn’t even sure if Nagisa realized it until Nagisa slowly turned his hand around and held onto Rei’s.

Somehow the two of them had managed to lean closer to one another. So close, it should have been weird, but it wasn’t. Their faces were on the verge of touching and Nagisa’s eyes fluttered shut. Rei gulped and followed suit, letting his eyes fall closed as he leaned dangerously close to Nagisa. This was it, he…he was going to do it and he wasn’t going to back out now. He kept leaning, closer and closer until—

 _BAM!_ A sound erupted through the air and it was so loud that it made him jump far to the end of the boat and made Nagisa jump so far back that he fell off.

“N-Nagisa?!” Rei leaned over the boat in a frantic worry, but Nagisa surfaced the water nearly just as soon as he had hit it. Rei reached out a hand. “Are you all right?!”

Nagisa looked up at Rei and gave that soundless laugh once again before he nodded his head and took Rei’s hand. Rei easily pulled him back into the boat. “No injuries anywhere?”

Nagisa smiled and shook his head as he settled back into his seat.

“I think that was thunder…” Nagisa looked at Rei in confusion. “The sound, I mean. I didn’t think it was going to rain, the weather’s been nice all day.” The thunder sounded again and startled him, and Nagisa nearly jumped off the boat again, but Rei caught his arm. “Ah, careful there!” Rei took a hold of the oars and started to row out from under the canopy. “Maybe we should head back before—”

A drop of water landed on his nose and he looked up at the sky to receive another few on his glass lenses before it started to pour down almost instantly.

“Before it rains…” Rei muttered, very unamused at the water dripping down his face. Nagisa covered his mouth to hide his smile. “We _should_ head back then. It’s getting dark too! I hadn’t noticed since we were…” Rei suddenly remembered what they had almost done before the thunder hit and his face heated up instantly in embarrassment. “Since-since we were underneath the canopy! I hadn’t noticed the light change!” Rei started rowing the boat faster. “Yes, we should _definitely_ head back!”

Rei rowed as fast as he could and tied up the boat the moment they reached the dock. He jumped out and took Nagisa’s hand to help him out as well; Nagisa held onto it tightly as the two of them ran into the trees to try and find the path. Rei found the path quicker than he expected and lead Nagisa out of the wood and didn’t let go of his hand until they were finally on the main road again.

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa was relieved once the two of them were finally on the road again because he wasn’t very good at running with a ton of rocks and trees all over the place, and it was quite tiring.

“That carriage would be very helpful right about now.” Rei huffed as he looked off in the direction of the castle. “It’s quite far on foot, but I doubt that Brother is still in the village if it’s this late.”

Nagisa wondered if maybe they could get a ride from someone in the village since that was much closer than the castle. Nagisa tugged on Rei’s shirt and to get his attention and pulled out his notepad only to discover that it was now a soaking mop of paper.

“Oh no, that must have been when you fell into the water back there.”

Hurt spread across Nagisa’s face as he held the ruined notepad in his hand. It was just a regular pad of paper, but he still felt horrible because it was something Rei gave to him, after all. Not to mention, how was he going to tell Rei his suggestion now?

“Hey,” Rei placed a hand onto Nagisa’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, I have plenty more back in the library that you can use.”

Nagisa sadly put the destroyed notepad back into his pocket, though that was probably a bad idea since it might be a hassle later, but he didn’t want to just throw it on the ground.

“Though I suppose that means you can’t tell me your idea now.”

Nagisa looked to Rei with surprise. How…how did he..?

“Just a guess.” Rei said, seemingly reading Nagisa’s mind. “We could go back to the village and maybe wait till the rain stops, but it’s already dark and who knows how long the storm will last. I don’t really want to worry anyone.”

Nagisa nodded in agreement and they both started making their way toward the castle. About ten minutes into their walk, Nagisa finally realized how cold he was since he was soaking wet already and then the rain and wind was just making it all worse. He started shivering and wrapped his arms around his chest to try to warm himself when he felt an arm wrap itself around his shoulder and pull him in close.

“I’d offer you my coat, but I didn’t bring one.” Rei laughed. “Though it probably wouldn’t help much since I didn’t bring an umbrella either. So I hope this will be okay until we get back.” Nagisa looked up to Rei and hoped that it was too dark for him to notice how red his face probably was. He gave a small nod and Rei clenched his arm a little bit tighter in response. Nagisa couldn’t help but smile and lean into Rei’s side as they walked; he felt really safe with Rei’s arm around him like this, and wished that it would happen more often from now on.

Which, now that Nagisa thought about it, might actually happen. A mere moment before the rain started, they were about to kiss, weren’t they? And it wasn’t like the one time on the beach either! This time Rei held onto his hand and leaned in so close that there was no way it wasn’t going to happen. Not to mention all the wonderful things Rei had said to him before that. Nagisa wanted to be angry at the rain for interrupting them, but he just felt too happy that they even got that far in the first place.

If they could get that far today, then imagine the party tomorrow while they were dancing and holding each other close! Nagisa sighed happily at the thought and felt so much worry drift away from him. He wasn’t quite sure that he’d make the deadline before, but after today he knew. It may have sounded a little selfish to think, but he just knew that Rei shared his feelings; he just _knew_ it!

After a long walk, though it seemed more like a battle, they finally reached the castle gates and hurried to the front door to get inside and shut it with a slam that was probably loud enough to be heard throughout at least the surrounding rooms. They scuffled across the foyer as they dripped all over the tiled floor and Nagisa couldn’t help but feel bad for making such a big mess, but it really couldn’t be helped with how hard it was pouring outside. They were almost to the stairs when the sound of a door creaking open made them stop.

“Do you two have any idea what time it is?”

They stood there frozen in place until Rei reluctantly turned around.

“Um...good evening, Brother!” Rei laughed awkwardly, and then gulped once he noticed the serious look on his brother’s face.

“What you did was extremely rude, you know? Lady Chikako was looking forward to talking with you, but instead you just…” He moved his arms around dramatically. “You just left me alone with her and I had to deal with all of her—wow, you two are soaking wet…”

“That would be due to the rain.”

“Yes, yes, the rain!” He waved his hand around. “It started raining and then it got dark and you weren’t back yet! I was worried about you, you know?”

A look of guilt spread across Rei’s face. “I’m really sorry, Brother. You two were just so preoccupied, I didn’t think it mattered…”

“It’s fine really, just…at least let me know you want to leave next time! It would have been completely fine if you just said something.” Rei gave his brother a somewhat shy nod. “Thank you.” Rei’s brother walked past them and headed down the hall. “We just finished dinner, so go dry off and eat before it gets cold!”

Nagisa watched as Rei’s brother disappeared down the hall and looked back to Rei who had a look of relief on his face.

Rei started to laugh. “That was close, I thought he was going to be really angry with us.” He looked at Nagisa with a soft smile and lidded eyes. “But even if he was angry, it was definitely worth it to show you the lagoon; it’s really special to me, so I’m happy I got to share it with you.”

Nagisa gave a toothy smile and silently agreed before his stomach growled very loudly.

“Ah, we should probably go change so we can eat. Ice cream by itself was not a very filling nor a very healthy lunch.”

Nagisa nodded and took Rei’s hand to lead him up the stairs so they could dry off. If only they could have eaten before they ran off, because Nagisa was _starving_ , but he had to agree that the outing was definitely worth it anyway.

The two boys went to the nearest bathroom to get some towels and wring out their soaking clothes in the sink so they wouldn’t keep dripping all over the floor while they walked. They quickly stripped to their underwear and Nagisa noticed that Rei blushed every time Nagisa looked in his direction or squeezed by him to drape a shirt or something over the tub to dry.

When Nagisa first learned about humans, he always thought it was a little odd how they seemed to be ashamed of nudity and always covered themselves up with clothes because the merfolk never did anything like that. Though Nagisa didn’t mind, he really enjoyed clothes because they there was so much variety and he loved to dress up and look nice in them.

Once they were finished wringing out their clothes, Nagisa thought it would probably be a good idea to take a hot bath so he wouldn’t get sick or something, but he was just too hungry and didn’t want to take the time, so he turned to leave the bathroom.

“Ah, Nagisa wait! Your towel!” Rei rushed over and draped the towel over Nagisa’s head. “And don’t forget to dry off your hair, you could catch a cold.” Rei lightly shook the towel over Nagisa’s hair to aid in drying it. Nagisa smiled softly at the gesture; Rei could be so nurturing sometimes, and it was really sweet to feel like he was being cared for.

Nagisa looked up at Rei once he removed his hands from Nagisa’s head and the towel lightly fell onto his shoulders. Rei snorted and put a hand to his mouth before looking away; a laugh then escaped Rei’s lips and Nagisa cocked his brow in confusion.

“I’m sorry, Nagisa, but…your hair.” Nagisa reached his hands up and ran them through what was now a giant fluff ball of hair. “Aha, I’m sorry. Considering how your bed hair is, I should have realized that toweling your hair dry wasn’t a good idea.”

Nagisa huffed and then attempted to reach up and mess up Rei’s hair with the towel, but he kept losing his balance because he wasn’t used to standing on his tip toes.

“Haha, nice try!” Rei chuckled.

Nagisa crossed his arms in defeat, but he wasn’t giving up completely. He’d have to try again at a different time when Rei wasn’t expecting it and when he could actually reach Rei’s head with no problems.

After Rei’s laughter died down, they finally headed back to their rooms to change into some dry clothes and Nagisa decided to just change into his pajamas since they’d be going to bed after dinner anyways. When Nagisa was ready, he left the room to wait for Rei and it seemed he thought the same thing because he was also in his pajamas.

They headed down to the dining hall and sat in their usual spots right next to each other at the table even though no one else there. It was really unusual for dinner to be so quiet, and it was even _more_ unusual to be eating in there alone; but it was really nice, Nagisa decided. Just the two of them eating together with no noise except for the rain pattering on the windows.

Nagisa stole a few items from Rei’s plate, and Rei retaliated by scooching down a spot on the table with a look of triumph. Nagisa pouted and followed suit by also scooching down a seat, and kept doing so until Rei finally gave in and let Nagisa take whatever he wanted.

Rei gave a somewhat annoyed and a somewhat content sigh. “We’re eating the same thing, Nagisa. Why do you need to take it from my plate?”

Nagisa shrugged and just thought, _“Just because it’s_ your _food, Rei.”_ And continued to take from Rei’s plate. Rei playfully shook his head and continued to eat his dinner as best as he could with this this greedy blond stealing from his plate. Eventually he just started taking from Nagisa’s plate too and then it became a battle of who could steal the most food from each other until eventually they were both full and ready to go to bed.

Rei walked Nagisa to his room like always and told him how much fun he had today before he bid him goodnight and went off to his own room. Nagisa immediately jumped into his bed, glad he was already dressed for it, and snuggled into the blankets as he sighed happily. The day was just so wonderful, and Nagisa couldn’t wait to tell Makoto about it.

He looked over to the window and heard the rain still falling outside and felt guilty that Makoto was out there. Sure, the rain couldn’t really hurt him since he was probably underneath the water, but he was still all alone out there and he hoped that he was doing okay. Nagisa hadn’t been able to go visit in a while and hoped that Makoto didn’t get too lonely.

What would happen if Nagisa made the deadline? Would Makoto just stay out there forever and not go home? Nagisa hoped not, that wouldn’t be fair to him at all. He’d have to make that perfectly clear next time they talked, because Nagisa didn’t want him to stay there only for his sake.

Nagisa yawned and was suddenly very sleepy, so he rolled over and clenched his pillows tightly. It really _was_ such an amazing day, other than Rei’s brother, of course, but he still got to have a lot of alone time with Rei regardless; running off was probably one of Nagisa’s greater ideas.

He took a deep breath and thought back to the boat and to the kiss he knew would have happened if it weren’t for the interruption; his heart flipped just thinking about all of Rei’s kind words and how Rei held his hand before he started to lean in closer. Nagisa rolled over again and blushed at the thought; not to mention the party was tomorrow! So he would get even more time with Rei _plus_ he had an even better chance at getting that kiss. He smiled into his pillow and wriggled his legs around excitedly before he finally settled down and started to fall asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Once Rei closed the doors to his room, he nearly skipped over to his bed before falling onto it ungracefully, but he didn’t really mind tonight because he was just so giddy and a little embarrassed. He covered himself in the blankets and brought them up over his head to hide the blush on his face even though there was no one around to see it.

The date…well, it wasn’t exactly a _date_ , but it felt like a date so, he was just going to call it that; the date with Nagisa went really well and not even the rain could ruin the mood because the walk home should have been completely miserable, but it was actually quite fun and it gave them an excuse to be closer to each other.

The only thing that the rain really ruined was…Rei’s eyes widened and he rolled over to hide his face in his pillow and scream internally. He was going to do it too, he wasn’t going to back away or come up with some excuse; he was literally going to _kiss_ Nagisa. Then the rain started and they just went on like nothing happened.

Did that mean that Nagisa didn’t want to? He had _looked_ like he did…his eyes were closed and everything. Though that didn’t necessarily mean he wanted to kiss too, did it? Rei rolled back over and took his glasses off and placed them on the bed side table; rolling around with them wasn’t a good idea, nor was it comfortable.

He hid his face in his pillows again and tried not to think about it, but that was easier said than done because he just couldn’t stop thinking about the way Nagisa was looking at him. His expression was so gentle and it made Rei’s heart twinge with happiness; maybe he really _did_ have feelings for him.

Rei blushed furiously again and had to remove the top blanket from himself because he was started to feel too hot. He looked to the window in his room and took a deep breath to cool himself down. The calmness of the rainfall relaxed him and he started drifting off to sleep; Nagisa’s sweet face still imbedded in his mind.

 

* * *

 

 

_CRASH!_

Nagisa shot up from bed at the loud sound with a gasp; heart pounding, he looked around the room to see if he could find the cause, but there was nothing. Only the sound of the storm, which had gotten noticeably worse as he slept because of how hard it was hitting his window. After another quick scan around his room, Nagisa took a few deep breaths and then he laid down to go back to sleep.

Another crash came that made Nagisa nearly jump out of bed, but he stopped himself and scooched over to the center of his bed. He looked around the room again unsteadily, but then he realized that the sound was familiar. Wasn’t that the same loud booming noise that interrupted his and Rei’s kiss on the boat? What had Rei called it again…thunder? Yeah, that was it! He also remembered hearing it that night he saved Rei, but he was too preoccupied with getting Rei to safety than with what was going on around him.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed through his window and another loud boom came not too long afterwards; this time Nagisa hid underneath his blankets to try to block out the noise, but that didn’t help at all and the booms only kept coming. He wasn’t used to these noises, where were they even coming from? Did they only happen during storms? What was that flash of light beforehand? He didn’t understand it and he did not like it…not one bit.

 

* * *

 

 

Rei was accustomed to the storms that hit; living so near the ocean, they were a very common occurrence and he usually slept through them soundly. So he was surprised when he was woken up by just the light sound of knocking on his door. He wasn’t even sure he really heard it at first and only got up from bed once he heard the knocking a second time. He reached for his glasses and staggered sleepily through the dark to open the door.

“What…” he yawned…“What is it?” His eyes finally adjusted and he saw Nagisa standing in the doorway with his blanket draped over his head like a hood.

“Na…Nagisa? What’s wrong?” A crack of thunder crashed, causing Nagisa to jump at the sound and clench tighter to his blanket. “Are…are you afraid of the thunder?” Another one hit and Nagisa jumped and slowly nodded his head. Rei had a sudden rush of nostalgia and he smiled softly before speaking again. “Would you like to come in?”

Nagisa nodded again and walked into Rei’s room. Rei closed the door behind him just as another boom of thunder came and Rei turned around to Nagisa clenching onto his sleeves. Normally Rei’s heart would explode due to Nagisa’s closeness, but all he could think about was calming him down and making sure he was comfortable.

 “It’s kind of funny…” Rei led him to his bed. “My brother used to be afraid of the thunder when he was younger.” Nagisa looked up at him. “He would always come running into my room when there was a storm and I’d let him sleep in my bed until the storm passed.” He chuckled. “It always seemed strange, him being the older sibling and all, and he always made me swear to never tell our parents because he was so embarrassed about it. They found out about it quite easily, though, since they’d wake me up and found him sleeping in my bed. So, if you want to,” Rei threw back the covers of his bed, crawled into them, and patted the empty space next to him. “You can join me until you feel better.”

Nagisa hesitated for a moment, surprised at the gesture, but walked over and crawled into the bed next to Rei. He had just snuggled in when another crack of thunder sounded; Nagisa clung to Rei and hid his face in the pillow.

“It’s okay, Nagisa.” Rei comforted. “All thunder is, is the sound of lightning striking through the air, it’s actually really fascinating. The only reason we see the lightning first is because light travels faster than sound; so, the longer the gap between the lightning and the thunder, the farther away the thunder is." Nagisa looked to Rei with a small smile, almost like a silent giggle. “I told that to my brother once to calm him, but he just ended up laughing at me and calling me a bookworm. Then I suggested he try to ignore it, but it’s hard to ignore something that loud, y’know?” Nagisa nodded in agreement as he flinched at another loud boom.

“So in the end, he would end up just singing or humming to himself to help drown out the noise. It worked too, because he would fall asleep while doing that and then I had to deal with him taking up most of the room on my bed that night.” Nagisa grinned again and lightly nuzzled him. “I wonder if that would work for you.” Rei pondered, but then he remembered. “Ah, but…right. You probably can’t even hum, huh?” Nagisa shook his head softly and twerked his mouth sideways.

Another sound of thunder crashed, and it was so loud that the window even shook; Nagisa proceeded to jump over Rei, away from the window, to hide behind him and cling to the back of his night shirt.

Rei frowned. Nagisa was even more afraid than his brother ever was, and it worried him. He turned over to face him and Nagisa proceeded to bury his face in Rei’s chest. Rei froze in his place and a blush tinted his cheeks; he swallowed loudly and tried to ignore how fast his heart was pounding so he could focus on helping Nagisa.

The poor boy was trembling against Rei’s chest and Rei had to think fast. He slowly lifted a hand and placed it on Nagisa’s shoulder before taking a deep breath.

_“Hush, the waves are rolling in,_

_White with foam, white with foam!_

_Father toils amid the storm,_

_But baby sleeps at home.”_

Nagisa gradually stopped trembling and slowly removed his face from Rei’s shirt; Rei continued to sing softly.

_“Hush, the winds roar wild and deep,_

_How they moan, how they moan!_

_Brother seeks the wandering sheep,_

_But baby sleeps at home.”_

Nagisa looked up at Rei and his face softened, nearly mimicking the expression that he wore earlier while they were in the boat. He rested his cheek on Rei’s chest and gazed up at him while he sang. Rei’s heart nearly melted at the sight and his voiced cracked slightly while singing, but he still continued.

_“Hush, the rain sweeps o’er the knowes,_

_Where they roam, where they roam!_

_Sister goes to seek the cows,_

_And the baby sleeps at home.”_

The song was over, but Rei repeated it once more and noticed that Nagisa’s eyes were starting to shut until he finally fell asleep. Rei faded out his singing and the only thing left to hear was the storm and the soft sound of Nagisa’s breathing. A few more cracks of thunder came minutes later, but they didn’t wake Nagisa, and for that Rei was thankful.

Rei thought he should probably carry Nagisa back to his room, but he didn’t want to accidentally wake him, nor did he want Nagisa to wake up by himself in case he became scared again. So instead, he carefully reached for the blanket to cover the both of them properly and somehow managed to place his glasses back on the bed side table without moving too much.

He settled back nicely into the bed and he remembered how fast his heart was pounding because, well, Nagisa was _right there!_ He was holding onto him and sleeping soundly right next to him, even partially laying on him! This was probably the closest they had been to each other since the time they fell on top each other when they were on the beach, but this time Rei was three times as embarrassed, which was ridiculous because he was the only one awake.

Rei heard a soft snore coming from Nagisa’s direction and it broke him out of his thoughts. He looked to his sleeping face and he smiled; at least Nagisa was able to fall asleep. Rei’s eyes gazed upon Nagisa’s sleeping form, and even though it was dark and even without his glasses, Rei was close enough to see a few small details on Nagisa’s face.

He truly was one of the most beautiful people Rei has ever known, and he considered himself very lucky to know him. Nagisa moved slightly and a few strands of hair fell into his face; Rei shakily brought his hand over and softly moved the hair out of his face and behind his ear. Rei’s fingers kept moving and he lightly caressed Nagisa’s cheek; his skin was very soft and warm, and Rei couldn’t tear his eyes away from Nagisa’s lips.

The longer he stared at them, the more he wanted to just…kiss him right there, but Rei couldn’t do that! Nagisa wasn’t even awake; how rude would that be? So Rei removed his hand from Nagisa’s face and was content with just watching him as he started to feel himself get drowsy again. As his eyes started to close, he let his mind drift off.

_This is him, Grandmother. He is really bright and charismatic, the kind of person I never thought I’d be friends with. I think you would have liked him. He…brings out a part of myself that I think I abandoned a long time ago, and that’s something I really admire about him. He seems to bring out the good in a lot of people; even Haruka._

_He truly is such a wonderful person and we’ve become so close in such a short time of knowing each other. He just, he makes me so happy and I think…I think that I’m in love with him._

Rei’s eyes suddenly opened from his thoughts and he looked straight to Nagisa as his heart was racing from the sudden realization.

_Oh my god, I’m in love with him!_


	15. Chapter 14

_“Are you sure you don’t want me to go to the market for you?” Rin asked for about the fourth time as Gou searched the room to gather her bag._

_“Yes, I’m sure! Just because it’s my birthday doesn’t mean you have to wait on me hand and fin. There was something else I wanted to get for dessert tonight.”_

_Rin grunted and crossed his arms. “Oh, alright then. I just wanted to be the one to prepare everything.”_

_“It’s just a quick trip to the market!” Ai chimed in with a smile._

_“Yup!” Gou added as she still searched around the room. “Aha! There it is!” Gou reached dove to the floor and picked up a gold piece from it to stash in her bag. “Now I have enough!” She turned back to Rin and Ai to give them both a peck on the cheek. “Thank you for thinking of me, though. You didn’t really have to plan this special dinner.”_

_“Of course we did. We’ve been saving for it all year.” Rin grinned proudly._

_“Still, I feel bad that you have to spend most of it on me, though.”_

_“Don’t. We really wanted to celebrate, didn’t we, Ai?”_

_“Mmhmm!” Ai nodded. “Sixteen is a special age, y’know!”_

_Gou smiled. “Yeah, I know.” She fixed the strap on her bag. “Well, we should get going so we can get back before it gets dark.”_

_“Okay, see you in a few hours!” Rin waved as his sister and Ai swam out through the door._

_“Bye!” Gou and Ai called simultaneously._

_Once the two were gone, Rin immediately started decorating; he might as well take advantage of the two being gone. He strung up shells and flowers along the ceiling and over the door and smiled in satisfaction when he finally got them all up. The decorations weren’t very flashy or anything, but they were the best Rin could manage on such a small budget._

_After he was through with that, he hurried to set the table and prepare dinner. It was a lot fancier than any of them were used to—it had better be with the amount of money he had to spend on it—so he had to make sure it was prepared correctly and didn’t go to waste. He sliced and prepared the three fish and was proud of how nice they turned out; they looked nearly as good as if you were dining with the King._

_He placed the fish on the table and sat down to admire his work. He must have sat there for about 30 minutes before he started to feel drowsy and dozed off. He wasn’t sure how long he slept, but he was relieved when he saw that the food was still sitting in front of him._

_That was a bad idea, falling asleep like that, someone could have come in and just stolen the food right from under his nose. Rin looked around the room and in the next one over to see if Gou and Ai were back yet, but it appeared he was still alone. He then peaked outside of the small porthole window on the other side of the room and noticed that it had already gotten dark outside._

_A rush of dread shot through Rin and he swam out of the door and hurried outside. They were supposed to be back before dark, why weren’t they back yet?!_

_Rin looked around hastily once he was outside and paid no attention to the fishfolk out there that tried to haggle him into buying something or another. He swam in the direction of the market place and was almost halfway there when someone smacked straight into him and threw him off course._

_“Oi! Why don’t you watch where you’re—?!” Rin turned and his words caught in his throat when he saw who he ran into. “Ai?!” Rin swam over quickly to help Ai up and noticed he was all bruised and cut up. “AI?! What…what happened? Are you okay?! Where’s Gou?!”_

_“R-Rin…” Ai whimpered. “I…I don’t know. Last thing I remember was heading back from the market and then something came out of nowhere and pushed me against a rock. I heard Gou scream, but I hit my head pretty hard, so I was all dizzy and I couldn’t swim straight; and when I was finally able to, I had no idea which direction she went. I looked for her and called for her, but…but…” He started to cry._

_Rin’s heart dropped into his stomach and he took Ai by the shoulders and looked at him seriously. “But_ what _, Ai?”_

_“I couldn’t find her, Rin. I’m sorry…I’m so sorry!”_

_Rin started to panic and he let go of Ai’s shoulders to compose himself. No, Gou was fine. She was just lost, and he was going to find her, no problem!_

_“Ai, I’m going to take home so you can lay down; but first I need you to tell me where exactly you were when this happened.”_

_Ai nodded timidly and told him about the rock he was pushed into and Rin threw Ai onto his back and carried him home as fast as he could. He laid him softly on the bed and cringed once he was able to better see his cuts in the light. “Jeez, those need to be treated right away!”_

_“I’ll be fine, Rin. You need to find Gou!”_

_Rin clenched his teeth but nodded in agreement before he rushed back out to look for his sister. He arrived at the rock Ai told him about and looked around for a trace, a clue, anything that could help him find her. He swam off in a random direction and nearly screamed when he found her bag laying on the ground. He picked it up and found that it still had items from the market in it, so whatever happened to Gou wasn’t because someone wanted to rob her._

_He picked up the pace and continued to swim in the same direction, and he didn’t recall when the tears started to come. “Gou! Gou where are you?! Gou?! GOU?!”_

 

“Gou!” Rin yelled and sprang up from bed; he was shaky and out of breath. After Rin sat there to catch his breath and calm himself down, he looked down at his hands and rested his head in them.

“Rin?” came Ai’s small voice from next to him. “You okay?”

“I’m fine…”

“Was it that dream again?”

Rin gritted his teeth. “Yes.” He slipped out of the bed and grabbed the coin purse off of the table. “I’m going to the market.”

You…” Ai yawned. “…want me to go with you?”

“No. It’s still early, so go back to sleep.”

Ai lowered his head, but nodded anyway and laid back down to sleep.

Rin swam to the door and moved the cloth out of the way with too much force because it ripped. He cursed under his breath and tried his best to fix the damn thing before he finally gave up and headed outside.

It had been a few weeks since Rin had that dream, and he felt horrible whenever he had it because he would get so upset and angry that he had to leave Ai alone or otherwise he might yell at him…and Ai didn’t deserve that. The market place was always where he went to calm himself down even though he could never really buy anything, but thanks to Nagisa’s generosity, he had been able to the last few times he had the dream.

He hated having to relive that moment again and again, and he never understood why he kept having the dream. Every time he had it, he hoped that something would be different. That he’d remember a clue he never saw before, or that Ai remembered something else, but nothing ever changed; it was just the same as it had always been…the same as what had actually happened those months ago. Rin spotted the same rock where Ai said was the last place he saw Gou and he turned away from it sharply and continued on his way. He wasn’t even sure if Gou was alive.

Once Rin finally made it to the market place, he swam around to look before eventually deciding to just buy a few fish.

“Three…” Rin mentally kicked himself. “I mean… _two_ salmon please.” The merman nodded and turned to gather the fish he wanted. Rin yawned and looked around to preoccupy himself and caught the eye of a young mermaid looking in his direction. She was very pretty, but Rin really couldn’t care less and he let his eyes wonder somewhere else.

The merman finally had his fish ready, so he took out the coin purse to pay and shoved the fish into his bag. He took another quick glance around the market to see if there was anything else he might want to get, but he couldn’t think of anything, so he decided to leave.

“Hey, excuse me!” came a high-pitched voice from behind him, but he ignored it and continued to swim. “HEY! Mershark!”

Rin sighed and turned around. “You talking to me?”

“Yeah!” The mermaid he spotted earlier swam up to him with a fiery look in her eyes. “Where did you get that bag?”

Rin cocked a brow. Why did she even care? Did she think it was cute or something? “A friend gave it to me.”

“Oh a _friend_ , huh? You are such a liar! My brother doesn’t have any mershark friends!”

“Brother?” Rin lowered his eyebrows in confusion until he realized. “Oh! You’re Nagisa’s sister?”

“You bet I am, and you’d better tell me exactly how you got that bag before I have you arrested.” She gestured to the giant merwhale shark that had suddenly appeared behind her, who didn’t look very friendly at all.

“Like I said the first time, he gave it to me.”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “And why exactly would he give you his coin purse?”

“He was just paying me to do my job. I identify human artifacts.”

“Oh, so he gave you the _entire_ coin purse? I doubt that your information is worth that much.”

“Well, he came to my shop multiple times. Then he just told me to keep the rest of it before he went off and tur—” Rin stopped. Shit, he shouldn’t have said that.

“Went off and _what_?”

“Disappeared.” Rin recovered. “I haven’t seen him since.”

“You know you’re a really bad liar. You had better tell me where he is!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Her eyes narrowed and she growled. “Sousuke! Make him talk!”

“O-oi!” Rin backed up a bit and held his hands out. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Yes you did! You mugged my brother and stole his coin purse, didn’t you?!”

The merwhale shark started to swim toward him and cracked his knuckles.

“Hey now! I don’t want any trouble here.”

“Then tell me where my brother is!”

“Spill it!” the merwhale shark snarled. “That’s a direct order from the Princess!”

“I told you already, I don’t know!”

“PLEASE!” she screamed and grabbed onto Rin’s shoulders, but her voice cracked and she started to tear up. “Please…We’re all so worried about him. Everyone’s exhausted from searching, most of the guards have quit due to exhaustion, including the captain; my sisters are on the verge of collapse, I don’t even know how often my father sleeps anymore, and I don’t know how I can even swim right now, to be honest with you.” She looked so broken and Rin noticed pure exhaustion in her eyes. “Please, it’s been a month with no trace and you’re the first lead we’ve gotten.”

“It’s…it’s not really my place to say.” Rin finally admitted. “I can tell you one thing, though; you have nothing to worry about. Nagisa’s fine and he’s in a safe place, okay?”

She perked up. “Nagisa’s alright?!”

“Yes.”

She sighed in relief and cried into her hand for a moment before she looked back up at him. “Then why can’t you tell me where he is?!”

“Nagisa wouldn’t want me to say anything. He swam away from home because he was being forced into an arranged marriage. Do you really think that he wants you to find him just so you can force him right back into it?”

She opened her mouth to argue, but closed it and looked to the ground. “Yeah…you have a point there.” She motioned for the merwhale shark to back off. “Sorry about all that. I was just desperate for information.” She took a deep breath. “None of us wanted this, but Father insisted that it was the only way for things to get better around here. Food resources are low due to the kingdom being so close to land and humans taking all of our fish, so it was really important that we make arrangements with the Northern Kingdom so we didn’t have to take drastic measures to make sure everyone is fed and healthy, but…” she laughed. “I feel bad for laughing, but the King was on his deathbed and passed away a week ago; and once he was gone, there was no one to stop the Queen from ruling that her eldest daughter was to have her coronation so she could take the throne.

“So, now there’s no reason for Nagisa to marry her anymore, because she had no interest in marrying in the first place. She was just as forced into it as Nagisa was, but now that means that there’s no way to make bonds with the Northern Kingdom because the Queen’s younger daughters aren’t of marrying age and won’t be for a number of years. So now we’re back to where we started and my father was already stressed as it was with Nagisa being missing. So please,” she squeezed Rin’s shoulders in desperation. “Tell me where my brother is.”

 

* * *

 

Rei stirred in his bed slightly and felt something tickle his nose before he yawned widely and ended up getting a mouth full of whatever it was that was tickling him. He coughed and spat out his tongue ungracefully and opened in his eyes in discomfort to see that the culprit was a wild head of hair that was right in his face. He groaned at the situation and was about to roll over when he realized that it was _Nagisa’s_ hair that was in his face, and that both of them had their arms wrapped around each other.

Rei just laid there in the midst of his realization and his face turned beat red at the fact that in the middle of the night he had somehow started to hold on to Nagisa and managed to _keep_ holding onto him until the morning. Rei’s legs felt a little numb, so he tried moving those and realized that their legs were intertwined as well.

Rei’s heart was racing and he felt so embarrassed he could die; this is how lovers slept in bed together, and he couldn’t believe that something like this could just happen by accident. Rei then felt Nagisa move, but all he did was just yawn and seemed to fall right back asleep. Rei took a deep breath in relief; he was actually surprised his coughing hadn’t woken him up. He watched Nagisa’s content sleeping face and smiled.

_Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to sleep a little more,_ Rei thought; and that way he could still hold onto Nagisa for a little while longer. Rei shifted his arms into a more comfortable position and rested his head back into Nagisa’s hair. Rei’s eyes fluttered closed and he breathed in Nagisa’s scent; he smelled like strange mix of soap and the ocean. Rei relaxed and started to fall back asleep before a loud slam of his door opening came out of nowhere and caused Rei to jolt up in alarm.

“REI! Nagisa isn’t in his room!” came the obnoxiously loud and frantic voice of his brother.

“What in the world?! Can’t you knock?! Jeez, you scared me half to death!”

“Well yeah! Nagisa isn’t in his room and I can’t…o-oh. _Oh_. Nagisa’s in _here_.” He closed his mouth and smirked through pinched lips. “Well then! Sorry if I interrupted anything.”

“Interrupted anythi…” Rei stiffened and remembered the position that Nagisa was laying. “N-no! No no no no, this, this isn’t what you, aha, no I can explain!”

“You…don’t have to explain anything, it’s alright. I was just worried that Nagisa was gone or something, but he seems perfectly fine to me. So, um…breakfast is ready and you should join us soon.” He pinched his lips together harder and snorted; it was apparent that he was trying really hard not to laugh. He stepped out of the room for a second, but peaked his head back in. “Oh, and don’t forget to put on pants.”

“Brother!” He disappeared in a flash and Rei could hear him laughing as he ran down the hallway. “I swear, he is so…ugh!” Rei said under his breath before he felt something move beside him. He glanced over and saw Nagisa sitting up and rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. “N-Nagisa! Um…sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Nagisa finished rubbing his eyes and then put his focus on Rei; his face was still sleepy, but it also looked very serious and it kind of worried Rei. Was Nagisa uncomfortable with their sleeping arrangements last night? Rei gulped as Nagisa moved closer to him, his expression unchanging, and he brought his arms up slowly until they were rested on top of Rei’s head.

“Nagisa…? What are you—?”

Nagisa looked Rei right in the eyes and smirked as he ruffled up Rei’s hair until it was a giant mess.

“H-hey! What in the world are you—?” A few strands of hair fell into Nagisa’s face as he messed up Rei’s own and Rei finally realized. “Oh! You’re getting revenge from the towel hair last night, aren’t you?” Nagisa gave a mischievous grin and slowly took his hands out of Rei’s hair. “Well, I suppose we’re even now.” Rei laughed as he ran his fingers through it. “But your hair is still messier than mine!”

Nagisa narrowed his eyes at Rei and raised his hand again to mess up Rei’s hair just a little bit more.

“Hey, no fair! I said we were even already!” Rei complained and wriggled around to reach his hand up so he could take Nagisa’s out of his hair, nearly getting pushed off of the bed in the process. Rei stared at Nagisa’s hand in his own for a moment and quickly released it when he realized he had been staring for too long. “Well,” he cleared his throat. “We should probably go to breakfast soon. We’ll need lots of energy for the party tonight.”

Nagisa nodded in agreement and hopped out of the bed; Rei thought he was heading for the door, but he turned back around and made a writing motion with his hand.

“Oh! I actually have a notepad in here, one second!” Rei stepped out of bed and hurried over to his dresser to open the bottom drawer. He pulled out the pad and a pencil and handed them to Nagisa. “It has a few used pages, but you just can rip them out if you want to.”

Nagisa flipped through the used pages to find a blank one and started to scribble out a message. Rei was actually excited to see what Nagisa was writing because even though Nagisa had only been without the pad for the evening, it had felt way too long since Nagisa wrote to him. Nagisa bit his lip as he looked over the message, and then gave the pad back to Rei.

_“I was really scared and it would have been horrible if I had to endure that by myself. I might not have gotten any sleep and would be too tired for the party tonight. So, thank you for last night! I felt really safe with you. P.S. Your lullaby was lovely.”_

The corners of Rei’s mouth turned up into a very wide grin; he was so happy that Nagisa wasn’t uncomfortable about it and it made Rei feel so warm and fuzzy to think about how Nagisa felt safe with him. “You are very welcome, Nagisa. I’m glad that you came to me, and please don’t hesitate to come again if you need me; my door is always open.”

Nagisa’s eyes sparkled and he gave Rei a tight hug before retrieving the notepad, waving goodbye to Rei, and dashing out of the room. Once the door was closed and Rei was sure Nagisa was gone, he sank to his bed, grabbed onto a pillow to shove in his face, and laughed into it as he rolled around on his bed; he accidentally tangled himself up in his blankets in the process.

The night had definitely been an eventful one; he finally knew how he felt about Nagisa, and he couldn’t believe how happy that made him and it made all of the struggles with himself worth it. Now that he knew this information, however, what was he going to do about it? Was he going to tell Nagisa?

 

* * *

 

After Nagisa left Rei’s room to walk back to his own, he might as well have been floating down the hallway because of how light and fluffy he felt. He clutched the new notepad to his chest and didn’t realize he had overshot his bedroom until he ran into the wall. Embarrassed, but also glad no one was there to see, he hurried back to his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Once he was back in his room, he dived into his bed and wriggled around excitedly. Last night had been absolutely perfect and he had to give thanks to the storm even though he truly was terrified of the thunder. Never in a million years would Nagisa think that he and Rei would share a bed, let alone be cuddling each other when they woke up in the morning.

Nagisa remembered clinging to Rei as he was falling asleep, but he never expected that Rei would do the same thing. Nagisa’s cheeks flushed at the thought of Rei sleepily reaching for him in the middle of the night and just wrapping his arms around him subconsciously. Nagisa shoved his face into his pillow and accidentally rolled off of the bed; and right then and there, he decided that he was going to tell Rei everything at the party tonight.

Everything had just been going so well lately, so Nagisa was feeling rather confident about it. He still had to think it through a bit, but that would come easier now that he had motivation. He untangled himself from the blankets and got up to get dressed.

He definitely couldn’t wait to tell Makoto everything, so he decided he would go talk to him after breakfast and before everyone had to start getting ready for the party. Nagisa looked in the mirror at his unkempt hair and smiled at his reflection. He had never been so happy about bed hair before that he almost felt sad having to brush it.

He missed how Rei brushed it, but Rei told him that he really should start doing it himself because he wouldn’t always be available to do it for him. Nagisa didn’t mind, he actually felt like he had a little more control over it this way, but it was still nice to have Rei do it because it was like he was getting his own personal head massage.

As soon as he was done with that, he met Rei outside his room and walked down to the dining hall with him; Nagisa couldn’t help but notice how Rei never looked away from him as they walked.

 

* * *

 

“We’re having the party on a ship?!” Rei squawked as he looked over the papers that were set out on the table by Rei’s brother a few minutes earlier. “This completely changes everything! And telling me on the morning of the party?! It would have been nice to know this sooner, you know.” Rei glared at his brother as he picked up his tea to angrily sip at it.

“Well, I was gonna tell you yesterday when we had lunch with Lady Chikako, but you decided to ditch me instead.”

Rei scoffed. “Still, you think this kind of information would have been important enough to mention it.”

“Well, I’m mentioning it now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rei grumbled as he angrily stabbed at the egg on his plate.

“I hope the party on the ship goes better than the last one we had.” Haru said rather sarcastically.

“Hey, don’t say things like that, Haru! It’s bad luck!” Rei’s brother growled.

“Not to mention there was a storm last night.” Haru continued. “Is it really smart to have the party outside?”

“Of course it is! The storm has already passed, hasn’t it? Plus, I have a backup plan! I’m also having the ballroom decorated, so the guests can meet up for a bit of chit chat before they get on the ship for the real party. Then I’m making sure that Goro and Sei will keep the ship close enough to shore so we can easily retreat back into the castle in case it _does_ start to rain again, and we can just resume the party in the ballroom. How does that sound?”

“It just sounds complicated to me.” Haru sighed. “Why not just have the entire party in the ballroom? Why do you need to have the party on the ship at all?”

Rei’s brother pouted. “Because I’m trying to outdo Mother, of course! She’s never had the summer party on the ship before, and imagine how amazed all the guests will be to be dining and dancing on a _royal ship_! It’ll be the talk of the town, the word will even reach outside and beyond the Kingdom and Mother will _have_ to hand over her party planning torch to me!”

“Well, if it starts to rain in the middle of the party, wouldn’t that just annoy the guests?”

“That won’t matter because it’s not going to rain.”

“But what if it does?”

“Why are you even arguing this? I thought _you_ of all people would be happy about having the party near the water.”

Rei’s brother grunted in annoyance and he and Haru continued to argue about whether or not the ship was a good idea. Rei playfully rolled his eyes and shook his head at the two of them; he went back to eating his breakfast and then his eyes eventually made their way to Nagisa who was sitting across from him.

He was probably on his second helping right now, though Rei couldn’t blame him since they hadn’t eaten much the day before; he was nearly done with his own breakfast and still felt a bit hungry himself. He took another bite, but still kept his eyes on Nagisa as he stuffed his face. Normally he would scold Nagisa for eating so fast, but all he could do was think about how the morning sun made Nagisa’s hair shine beautifully.

Rei sighed to himself and never realized how content just watching Nagisa made him. He felt himself lean into his hand and gaze out at the blond as he lazily chewed at his food. Eventually, Nagisa looked up from his plate and looked directly at Rei. He swallowed his food and looked a bit confused before he reached for his napkin to wipe his face frantically as if there was food on it.

“Oh! No, you didn’t have anything on your face, Nagisa.” Rei assured and Nagisa placed the napkin back into his lap and his face turned a nice shade of red.

Rei heard his brother snort next to him and he looked over to see him averting his eyes and covering his mouth. Rei didn’t even realize that he and Haru had stopped arguing.

“What?” Rei questioned, but Rei’s brother waved his hand around like it was nothing, and even Haru looked like he was grinning somewhat. Rei shrugged to himself and went back to finishing his meal. A few minutes later Nagisa passed him his notepad with something written on it.

_“I have a few things I need to do before the party, so if you’ll excuse me.”_

“Oh, of course, Nagisa.” Rei wondered what those few things could be, but he didn’t question it. “By all means, do what you need.”

“I have a few things I need to do too.” Haru added as he stood from his chair.

“Alright, I’ll see you both tonight then.” Rei waved as Haru and Nagisa left the dining hall. Barely a moment before the two closed the door, a boisterous laugh sounded from right next to him. “Brother?”

“Ahaha, oh my _god_ , Rei. I seriously cannot believe you right now. I wish you could see your face, it’s so embarrassing ahaha.”

“Wh-what about my face?” Rei self-consciously reached a hand up to his cheek to inspect it.

“That silly expression, oh my god, it’s so funny ahaha.”

“I-I don’t understand…”

“You’re sure nothing happened last night? Because that face is the look of someone who had a _really_ good night.”

Rei’s stomach churned from embarrassment and a blush spread across his face. “Brother! I told you, it was nothing! Really!”

“Then what was he doing in your room?”

“It turns out that you two have something in common.” Rei smirked. “He’s also afraid of the thunder.”

“Hey, hey, I am _not_ afraid of thunder anymore!”

“I know that, it just seemed a bit nostalgic because he came knocking on my door in the middle of the night because he was afraid. I was calming him down and then he just ended up falling asleep, so I didn’t want to risk waking him to carry him back to his room.”

“Hah, yeah. More like you were totally loving the fact that he fell asleep on you.”

Rei coughed into his hand. “I have no idea what you...I don’t…”

“Oh come on, Rei. Admit it. You’re totally in love with the kid, aren’t you?”

Rei tensed up at the words and he felt his heart rate speed up. How did he know? Was it seriously that obvious? Well, it wasn’t really surprising with how much he teased him about Nagisa yesterday. He really couldn’t just lie, so he looked away from his brother and nodded shyly.

There was a pause and Rei was a bit worried so he looked back at his brother to see he was just sitting there with his mouth agape. “I knew it.” He stood up animatedly. “I _knew_ it! Oh my god, Rei, in all my life I never thought _you_ would fall in love before me. _You_! Mr. ‘romantic love isn’t logical, grandmother, please explain it to me in a five paragraph essay and present it with scientific evidence’.” He pushed up his nonexistent glasses in his nearly flawless impression of Rei.

“D-don’t make fun of me!”

“Ah, sorry, I’m not trying to make fun of you! I’m just,” he walked over to him and placed his hands on Rei’s shoulders and gave a tight squeeze. “I’m just so happy for you, Rei!” He then pulled Rei into hug. 

“I…thank you, Brother.” Rei relaxed into the hug. It was really nice to have a quiet moment with his brother since he was usually always so obnoxiously loud. “It really means a lot to me.”

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, the two finally broke from the embrace. “So, have you told him yet?!”

Aaaand now the nice quiet moment was gone. “Of course not!”

“Oh come on! Why not?!”

“Because I just recently discovered this myself. I haven’t had enough time to even _think_ about confessing.”

“Wait, _how_ recently?”

“...last night…”

“What?! It seriously took you _that_ long to realize? Jeez, you really are hopeless if _I_ noticed it before you did.”

“Hey, it took a lot for me to realize this, okay? Like you said, romantic love never made sense to me before. So I had a lot of stuff that I needed to sort out first.”

“Well, okay. I guess that’s understandable. But now that you know, you really need to tell him soon, okay? Oooh! How about tonight?! Wouldn’t that be perfect? It’d be all romantic out on the ship, maybe like during the sunset or while the stars are out!”

“T-tonight? There’s _no way_ I could do it tonight, it’s way too soon. I need more time to sort it out and practice a proper confession and I…” he looked down, feeling a twinge of worry. “I don’t even really know if Nagisa…”

“If Nagisa what?” Rei’s brother interrupted. “Doesn’t return your feelings?” Rei nodded sadly. “Ugh, okay no. You gotta stop right there, little brother.” He stood up and started to dramatically pace back and forth while waving his arms around. “Do you have any idea how many books I’ve read where the characters are just so annoying and end up not confessing because they’re afraid of rejection and then they just never get together? Let me tell you, it is seriously the worst.”

“Books?” Rei cocked a brow. “Have you been reading _romance novels_?”

He stopped in his tracks and turned around. “That is…not relevant right now, we’re talking about _you_.” He sat down in the chair next to Rei again. “If you don’t at least try, then you’ll feel miserable because you never did and then you’ll have to move on and you’ll never know if the feelings were mutual.”

His brother had a point there. “I know…”

“And how would you feel having to see Nagisa every day and just act like you don’t have feelings for him? It’d start to bottle up and then there’d be needless drama probably. So take a chance and try for that confession tonight! Better sooner than later, right?”

Rei took a deep breath and swallowed dryly. “Well, I suppose trying could never hurt anything.”

“Exactly!” He put a reassuring hand on Rei’s shoulder. “Also, I seriously can’t believe you think Nagisa would reject you. I mean, have you _seen_ the way he looks at you? That kid can be just as embarrassing as you sometimes.”

The corners of Rei’s mouth turned up softly and his heart sped up at the thought of Nagisa returning his feelings. “Thank you, Brother.”

“No problem.” He stood up from his chair and stretched his arms with a grunt. “So, the guests will start arriving in a few hours and I still have to check up on a few things. Think you can help me out before then?”

Rei pushed his glasses up his nose confidently. “Of course!”

 

* * *

 

“So you’re actually going to tell Rei tonight?” Haru asked once he handed Nagisa’s notepad back as they were heading down the path to the beach.

Nagisa put the notepad into his pocket and skipped down a few steps before turning around to nod happily at Haru.

“Good.” He sounded almost relieved. “If you need any help, just let me know.”

Nagisa nodded a second time and hopped onto the sand once he reached the beach. He spotted Makoto wading in the shallow water and he took his shoes off before running towards the shore to greet Makoto with a tight hug.

“Ah, Nagisa!” Makoto jumped slightly in surprise. “Good morning! It feels like it’s been so long since I last saw you.” He grinned and hugged Nagisa back before spotting Haru, who was now stripping for his daily swim. “Good morning to you too, Haru.” Haru gave a small smile and nodded in Makoto’s direction before diving into the water.

Nagisa giggled silently before he let go of Makoto; Haru really _did_ love to swim. Nagisa then settled down in the sand and began to write a message to Makoto. _“Were you okay with the storm going on last night?”_

“Oh, I was fine! I just swam away from the beach a bit; the waves got a little harsh closer to the shore. Otherwise, it was no big deal.”

_“Oh good! I was worried about you! It was raining really hard.”_

“Yeah, everything was fine.” He smiled softly and then changed the subject. “So any new developments with Rei?”

Nagisa perked his head up and eagerly wrote again. _“Yes! I need to tell you about my day yesterday! It was so wonderful!”_

“Ooh, yes!” He leaned in closer. “Please tell me!”

Nagisa wriggled excitedly and explained everything to Makoto. About how the outing was frustrating at first because of Rei’s brother, how Ayako thought that he and Rei would make a cute couple, then how they ran off to the beautiful lagoon where they almost shared a kiss but the rain messed everything up. Then he told him how Rei held him close as they walked home and then how they were stealing each other’s food at dinner. He even mentioned the silly thing about the towels.

_“And then the thunder woke me up, and it was super scary…”_

“Thunder? Was that those loud booming noises?” Makoto interrupted; Nagisa nodded. “I didn’t know it had a name. It _was_ rather scary too; I was just glad that the water muffled the sound enough that I could barely hear it.”

Nagisa continued. “ _I was so scared and I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I went to Rei’s room and he let me sleep in his bed and he comforted me and even sang me a lullaby! I ended up falling asleep and when I woke up, we were holding on to each other. I was so happy I could die!”_

Makoto smiled widely. “That’s amazing, Nagisa! I’m so happy for you! Do you think that means you’ll finally get a kiss tonight?

Nagisa’s stomach became very warm at the thought. _“I’m feeling confident about it, yes. The party would make for a great romantic atmosphere and with my amazing new dance skills, thanks to Haru, I think it just might happen!”_

“Ah, and with one day to spare too! Talk about cutting it close.” He chuckled. “So you’ll get that kiss tonight and then you’ll be human forever.”

Human forever, huh? It had seemed so far-fetched a month ago, and there were many times that Nagisa didn’t believe it could actually happen, but now it was right there, right within his grasp. He was only a few hours away to becoming a human forever and he’d get to spend that forever with Rei by his side. He felt his heart flip in his chest and he could barely believe his dream was going to come true. He looked up at Makoto and smiled, but upon looking at Makoto’s face, he remembered something and felt a small pang of guilt. Nagisa would have Rei, but what about Makoto?

He wrote again. _“Makoto, what will you do if I remain human? You wouldn’t just stay here for my sake, would you?”_

Makoto’s brows lowered upon reading the message. “Well, I need to keep protecting you, don’t I?”

That was exactly the response he was expecting to hear, but Nagisa’s heart still sank. _“Makoto, no! You can’t just stay here. It’s selfish of me to have you stay here. You need to go home to Ren and Ran and your parents. I’ll have Rei and Haru and Rei’s brother to look after me, so it’ll be fine. Please, it must be so lonely for you out here all of the time.”_

“Well, that’s not always the case! Rin’s come to visit a few times, and Haru’s been keeping me company as well. Right, Haru?”

Haru didn’t glance over as he floated on his back. “Yeah. He’s been swimming with me when I come out here.”

Makoto looked back to Nagisa, a look of worry in his eyes. “See? It’s fine! Really!”

Nagisa shook his head. _“No, Makoto. It’s not fair. You_ must _miss your family. I know they miss you! You can always just come back to visit me if you wanna check up on me. I just don’t want to keep you away from your family or your home. I know you’re not comfortable near land, so please stop acting like everything is fine when it’s not.”_

“Nagisa…” Makoto teared up and balled his fists into the sand. “Are-are you sure? I’ve always been there to protect you since we were kids and…I promised you I always _would_ no matter what.” Nagisa started to tear up a bit too and reached for Makoto’s hand to squeeze it. Makoto looked down at the sand. “I just want to make sure you’ll be alright.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Haru said as he swam over to them. “I’ll make sure to watch over him, okay?”

Makoto’s eyes rounded and he turned to look at Haru with a trembling expression. “Really? You’d…do that?”

Haru shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

“Haru…” He wiped a tear away. “Thank you!”

“No problem. I could even teach him how to swim like a human.”

Nagisa perked up nodded happily; he liked the sound of that! It had been so long since he swam that he actually kind of missed it. He scooched closer and wrote in the sand again. _“See, Makoto? Everything will be fine! So please go home once I become human, all right?”_

“All right, Nagisa.” Makoto finally agreed. “I trust that you’ll be in good hands here.” Makoto smiled after he wiped his eyes again, but that smile quickly faded and he gasped. “But…what if…what if your father sees me?! What will I even tell him? I can’t just tell him where you are! What if he’s still angry at you and tries to force you home? His magic is more powerful than Sumi’s and he’d probably be able to turn you back into a merman if he really wanted to.”

Nagisa never really thought about that before; his father would definitely be angry at him for being gone for so long, and finding out that he was living as a human and falling in love with one on top of that wouldn’t help at all either.

Makoto could always just say he didn’t know where he was, but his father wouldn’t believe that for a second…not with how protective Makoto was of him; and there was no way Makoto could just keep it a secret, his father would find a way to force it out of him eventually.

Nagisa put his fingers to his temples out of frustration; ugh, why did this have to be so complicated? Especially when everything had been going so well as of late. Nagisa was already stressed as it was because he was still thinking about some sort of a plan for telling Rei everything at the party, and he didn’t want to have to worry about this as well. He took a deep breath and wrote into the sand again.

_“Well, I’m sure we’ll come up with a solution sooner or later. But right now, I need to focus on something more important…I’m going to tell Rei everything at the party tonight.”_

“Really? Do you have it all planned out?” Makoto asked, sounding worried.

_“Not exactly, but I’m working on it.”_

“Well, if you need my help, just let me know. Maybe I could swim alongside the ship tonight so if Rei doesn’t believe you, you can just point me out to him.”

“Not a bad idea.” Haru added. “Seeing you for myself definitely helped me believe everything a lot easier, and Rei is not as easily convinced about that kind of stuff without evidence to back it up.”

“Alright, then I’ll keep close to the ship and maybe you can give me some kind of a signal if you need me? Ah, that might be difficult if you don’t know where I am and can’t call to me, though.”

“I could do it.” Haru offered. “I could keep in touch with you throughout the night and tell you where Nagisa is and when he gets Rei alone to tell him.”

“Really? It won’t be too much trouble?”

Haru shrugged. “Not really. I’m not a fan of parties and it’ll give me something to do, I guess.”

“Ooh, that’s a good idea. What do you think, Nagisa?”

Nagisa pondered for a moment; it sounded like a good plan to him. _“We just need to make sure no one sees Haru talking with you or someone might get suspicious.”_

“Ah, of course!” Makoto agreed and turned to Haru. “You’ll have to be careful when you talk to me so people won’t notice.”

“That’ll be easy enough.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. People don’t really pay much attention to me anyway since I don’t like to socialize.”

“Alright! Then it’s settled.” Makoto turned back to Nagisa. “Anything else?”

Nagisa brought his finger to his mouth in thought and everything seemed okay for now, so he shook his head and wrote that he’d let Haru know if he thought of anything to add to the plan. Makoto nodded and the three of them went over the plan a few more times before Nagisa and Haru bid Makoto goodbye for the afternoon and headed inside to start getting ready for the party. Once inside, the two boys walked up the stairs and down the hall.

“Mind if I bathe first?” Haru asked casually once they reached the bathroom.

Nagisa shook his head; Haru had just gone swimming in the ocean, so it was probably better if he went first anyways.

“Thanks. I’ll come get you once I finish so you can take one.”

Nagisa nodded and left to let Haru to take his bath. He flopped down on his bed once he reached his room, and rolled over to take his notepad out to try and arrange his thoughts properly so he would have a better idea of what to write when he told Rei tonight.

He ended up re-writing the first few sentences about ten times before he was finally satisfied with them, and he grunted in annoyance; why did this have to be so complicated to write out? He knew he’d have an easier time actually telling him because he was still really new to writing and he wasn’t one hundred percent sure if he was wording everything correctly or not, and he didn’t want to mess this up because one small misunderstanding could ruin everything.

Once Nagisa was about half way done with writing out his confession, Haru had come to tell him he could take a bath now. Nagisa quickly finished the current sentence he was writing, read it over a few times before changing a few words, and then he hid the notepad under his pillow and hurried to go take a bath. The warm water was actually a nice way to help him relax and clear his mind, and he thought about how he’d write the last few sentences while he lay in the soapy water.

Nagisa took a deep breath and looked at the clock that hung above the door; he gulped loudly. Only one more hour until the guests started to arrive, and Nagisa was just as anxious as he was excited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww snap, some Rin and Gou development! Ohohoho. And the party is coming up in the next chapter, so stay tuned! I wonder what will happen next, ehehe >:3


	16. Chapter 15

Nagisa gazed at himself in the mirror just as soon as Atsuko stepped back from helping him dress to let him take a look. The suit looked just as good as it had when Ayako had helped him put it on yesterday. His hair was light and fluffy and actually looked soft for once, thanks to nearly an hour of prepping, so Nagisa couldn’t help but grin at his reflection.

“Oooh, you look so handsome, Nagisa!” Atsuko said sweetly as she put her hands together. “You’ll definitely catch many eyes looking your way tonight!”

Nagisa smiled to her in thanks and ran his fingers over his vest to flatten it out a little bit when he heard a knock on the door. It couldn’t be Rei, could it? Wasn’t he busy with the guests right now? He sure hoped it wasn’t Rei because he didn’t want him to see yet and he wanted to make a grand entrance like Ayako had suggested; but he sighed in relief when Haru was the one who entered the room. He looked really pretty in his own suit, all black except for a white shirt and a blue bowtie, and Atsuko complimented him before turning to Nagisa.

“Well, I best be off. I’m needed elsewhere. I hope you two have fun tonight!” She waved goodbye and took her leave.

Haru lazily watched her walk down the hall before he turned back to Nagisa and walked over. “You look really nice.”

Nagisa smiled and nodded to him to hopefully return the compliment.

“So, are you ready?” Nagisa nodded excitedly as he put on his suit coat. “And you remember the plan?” Nagisa nodded again. “Alright then, let’s head down there.”

Nagisa started to follow Haru out of the room and down the hall. His heart was racing with excitement, but once he got to the stairs he saw a lot of people entering through the foyer; he suddenly felt a strange rush of nervousness that made him stop right at the top of the stairs. He hadn’t realized how many people were actually going to be at this party, and the thought made him uneasy for some reason.

“Nagisa?” Haru called from the bottom of the stairs. He turned around and walked back up when Nagisa didn’t respond. “You okay?”

Nagisa gulped and his hands started to feel sweaty before he looked at Haru and nodded his head anxiously.

“You don’t really look okay…”

Nagisa sighed and took his notepad out of his coat pocket and began to write. _“I’m just…really nervous for some reason.”_

“Well, it _is_ a huge party with a ton of people you don’t know. I can understand why you’d be nervous. I’m not a big fan of huge crowds myself.”

_“Yeah, but normally that kind of thing doesn’t bother me. I’ve never felt so nervous before and I don’t know why. Just…there’s so many people that are gonna be watching us and what if I forget the dances you taught me? Plus, there’s telling Rei about everything and what if it goes wrong? What if he freaks out and it happens in front of everyone at the party?!”_

“Nagisa.” Haru placed his hands on Nagisa’s shoulders. “Breathe. You’re not going to forget the dances. Everything is going to be okay.

_“But what if it’s not okay? Ugh this was a horrible idea, I shouldn’t be telling him while we’re at the party, maybe I should just reschedule!”_

“You know you can’t do that, Nagisa. Unless you want to tell him at the last minute tomorrow, but then you’d be cutting it a bit close, don’t you think?”

Nagisa closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths; Haru was right, he had to go through with this tonight no matter how nervous he was about it. He definitely didn’t want to wait until the last minute because even if he didn’t get the kiss in time, which he didn’t like to think about, he still wanted Rei to know the truth; Rei deserved that no matter what happened between them. Plus, he needed to enter that party full of confidence or else he just wouldn’t have any fun, especially since he needed to make that grand entrance that would make Rei stare. So he took one last deep breath, lifted his shoulders up, and put his notebook back into his pocket before taking the first step down the stairs.

 

* * *

 

“Please enjoy the party!” Rei’s brother said as he checked another few names off of the guest list and let them onto the ship. “Well, there’s only about twenty or so more people not crossed off of the list yet, so we’re almost done.” He sighed in relief. “It’s weird how much larger this many invites looks when they’re all here at once.”

“I told you that you should have condensed the list a bit.” Rei said as-a-matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, but the ship was big enough for all of them, so why not?”

Rei rolled his eyes playfully.

“Is everyone on board yet?” Goro called from the dock.

“Not yet, Goro!” Rei called back. “About twenty more people left!”

Goro nodded to him, but Rei heard a grumble as he turned away and leaned against a docking post. Rei didn’t blame him for being annoyed, though, _he_ was the one who had to sail the ship, after all.

Rei turned back around to face at the arriving guests just when a young boy with orange hair and a poorly fitted suit came racing up the boarding platform. Rei had to take a step back or otherwise the boy might have run right into him.

“Wow, I thought I was gonna be late, but glad I made it on time!” The boy shouted enthusiastically.

“Um…” Rei’s brother gave Rei a confused side glance and Rei felt relieved that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t know who this boy was. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’ll need your name to cross off of the list.”

“Oh, um…” He put hand on the back of his neck. “I didn’t know there’d be a list. I wasn’t…technically invited, heh.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but if you weren’t invited, then you can’t come aboard.” Rei informed, sounding annoyed.

“Aww, come on! I’m sure one extra person won’t be _that_ big of a deal, right?!” He tried to walk right past Rei’s brother but he blocked the way.

“Sorry, kid. But no can do.”

“Really? Not even if I gave you this!” He opened his suit jacket and pulled out a glass jar with a… _beetle_ in it?!

“Absolutely not!” Rei declined with a look of disgust.

“Aww! Well, what about _two_ then?” The boy proceeded to take _another_ glass jar out of his jacket.

“I do not even want _one._ ” Rei pushed the jars away from him. “Why would you think I’d want _two_?!”

“Well, why not?!”

“Momo?!” bellowed a voice from behind them. Rei turned to look and saw Sei walking over with a stern look on his face. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“You know him?” Rei’s brother asked.

“Yes.” Sei grabbed the boy by the shoulder and started to rub his fist over his head. “He’s my little brother who’s supposed to be at home and in bed.”

“Hey, cut that out!” Momo pouted. “It’s no fair you get to be at the party, so I thought I’d come have fun too!”

“I’m not here to have fun, Momo. I’m here to work.”

“Well, I could have fun for the both of us!”

Sei chuckled and shook his head. “Just go home, Momo.”

“But…but home is so _far away_ and it’ll be dark before I get back and I’d have to walk _all of the way there_ …”

Sei sighed. “How did you get here then?”

“I…snuck on the carriage with you and waited til you left so I could jump out and change.”

“Of _course_ you did.” Sei laughed again. “I must say, I’m actually quite impressed, but I can’t really do anything about it now. I have to help Goro with the ship tonight.” He turned to Rei and his brother. “Sorry about this, but can he stay in the castle until the party is over since he has no way of going home right now?”

“Well, he ­ _could_ but…ah, what the hell.” Rei’s brother shrugged. “Since he’s your brother, it’s okay. One extra person won’t hurt!”

“Brother!” Rei protested. “You can’t just…”

“Welcome aboard, Momo. I hope you have fun tonight!”

“Really?!” Momo beamed. “Thank you so much, your highnesses!” He gave a quick bow and scuffled onto the ship happily.

“Wow, uh…thanks!” Sei smiled. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t cause any trouble!”

“No problem, Sei.” Rei’s brother assured before he turned back to greet another guest.

“Okay, Momo, you be on your best behavior.”

“I will! Oooh, who’s that pretty girl over there?!” Momo started running further onto the ship and Sei chased after him.

Rei watched as the young Momo enthusiastically ran over to greet a girl with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and could practically feel the embarrassment from all the way over here; Momo sure was a loud one, he could hear almost everything he was saying as well. Rei could only hope that he didn’t bother anymore guests.

“Brother, why would you do that? He looks like he’s just going to cause trouble.” Rei turned his head around again to look back at his brother. “He’s already bothering one of the guests and…and…” Rei’s voice dropped as his eyes caught the most stunning thing he has seen all night.

Nagisa was walking down the dock and once Rei saw him, he couldn’t take his eyes off of him; he was just so magnificently beautiful in every way. His hair brushed lightly against his face as he walked and it would catch the light perfectly with every other step, so it made his hair look like it was sparkling in the sunlight. Then his suit just matched him incredibly well and he hadn’t expected anything less of Ayako than to produce the most perfect suit for him.

“And what?” Rei’s brother asked, but Rei ignored him and just kept staring at Nagisa. “And _what_?” He asked again, but smirked once he realized what Rei was staring at. “Oh. Nevermind…”

Nagisa was almost to the end of the dock when he finally spotted Rei and smiled brightly before waving at him and practically running the rest of the way to the boarding platform. Rei frantically straightened his bowtie before Nagisa finally walked up to them. Rei’s heart flipped; Nagisa was even more stunning up close.

Rei cleared his throat and adjusted his collar nervously. “Nagisa, I…wow, you look very beautiful.”

Nagisa blushed and looked down at the ground nervously and he fiddled with his hair before smiling widely and looking back up to Rei with bright eyes. He reached into his coat to pull out his notepad and quickly wrote something on it before handing it to Rei.

_“You look very beautiful too, Rei.”_

Rei felt himself blush now and he gave a shy thanks before handing the pad back to Nagisa, who tucked it away into his coat again.

“So, um,” Rei started. “I still have a few more guests to greet before we can set sail, so do you think you can just mingle around a bit until I can join you?”

Nagisa tensed up slightly and looked past him to all of the guests on the boat.

“It’s okay, he can stick with me until then.” Haru suggested once he got up to the deck of the ship behind Nagisa.

Nagisa smiled to Haru, and then nodded at Rei confidently.

“Ah, good. It won’t be too long, but please enjoy yourself.” Rei let Nagisa and Haru onto the boat and kept his eyes on Nagisa for another moment as he walked farther into the crowd of guests.

Rei’s brother chuckled loudly. “You seriously have it bad, little brother.” Rei then snapped out of his daze and turned back around to face the loading dock again, pushing his glasses up nervously. “I can’t blame you, though. That was quite the entrance he made.”

Rei gave a content sigh. “It really was.”

 

* * *

 

Nagisa took a deep breath as he walked through the large crowd of people he was surprised they could even all fit on the ship in the first place. It looked like his entrance went well and Rei sure looked stunned to see him just like Ayako said he would; and everything seemed to be going well so far, even if the night had just barely started.

Haru turned to face Nagisa. “I’m gonna take a walk around the boat to find Makoto. Will you be okay on your own?”

Nagisa nodded and watched Haru disappear onto the other side of the ship. He smiled and decided to look around for a place to sit and wait for either Haru to come back or for Rei to finish greeting people. Once Nagisa found a seat, however, he heard a somewhat familiar voice and he looked up to see Lady Chikako waving at him.

“Hello, dear! Nagisa, was it? You look absolutely stunning this evening, if I must say so myself. I know my daughters all agree! Right, girls?!” She called to her daughters that were standing not too far away, but they all looked a little embarrassed by their mother. “Honoka over there thinks you’re cute.” She whispered to Nagisa, but not quiet enough because Honoka seemed to have heard.

“Mother!” Honoka sputtered as she hid her face.

“Oh, shush. Don’t you want to dance with him? I’m doing you a favor.”

Nagisa laughed internally at Lady Chikako’s bluntness, but he was glad her daughter seemed too shy to want to ask to dance because Nagisa would feel bad having to turn her down; he only had one person he wanted to dance with this evening, and it wasn’t her.

Lady Chikako stayed near Nagisa for the next five or so minutes just trying to strike up casual conversation, but then she remembered Nagisa couldn’t talk, so she soon got bored and left to go converse with some other guests; Nagisa was glad she left, though.

A few more minutes passed and Haru finally returned from his search for Makoto and he even had a plate of mackerel from the food table already.

“I found Makoto and everything is all ready to go. I asked him to try to stay on the stern of the ship so we could have an easier time looking for him if we need him for anything.”

Nagisa nodded in understanding even though he actually had no idea what the stern of a ship was, so he reached into his coat to get out his notepad to ask, but just as he did so, Rei appeared from behind Haru.

“Ah, there you two are! We just finished boarding all of the guests, so we should be heading out soon.”

Just as soon as Rei said this, his brother climbed up where everyone could see him and made the announcement that they are setting sail and that the party was officially started. Everyone applauded and Rei’s brother climbed back down and headed off to assist Sei and Goro with setting off.

Nagisa was actually really excited because he had never been on a ship before. The closest he came was on that small row boat when Rei showed him the lagoon, but that was nothing compared to a ship the size of this one; the amount of guests was a really good way to show just how large this ship actually was.

“Hey,” Rei tapped Nagisa’s shoulder softly. “Come here, I wanna show you something.”

Nagisa nodded and stood up from his chair to follow Rei to one of the sides of the ship and he was amazed at the sight when he looked out at the horizon. He couldn’t believe how high up everything seemed and how far away the water looked; he even saw the ship start to move against the water when he looked down.

The ship looked to being going quite fast when he looked at the water, but the ship didn’t seem to be moving at all when he looked back up. Then Nagisa caught sight of the sails that were now open and fluttering in the wind. They were so much more amazing up close than when he remembered looking at them from the water when he was still a merman. It was so strange to think that that had only been a month ago and Nagisa was actually starting to forget what it was like to have fin instead of feet.

“When the ship first sets sail is always one of my favorite parts about sailing.” Rei continued, breaking Nagisa out of his thoughts. “We won’t get up to that much speed since we’re just leisurely sailing close to shore, but it’s still an incredible experience so…I thought you’d might enjoy the take off as well.”

Nagisa smiled and nodded enthusiastically at Rei because he most definitely was enjoying it! The way the wind felt against his skin was similar to that of running, but it was different in the way that he felt like he was almost flying because he wasn’t moving his legs around and just standing in one place. Nagisa took a few deep breaths and decided to close his eyes; the sensation was incredible. He could see how Rei loved this so much despite not knowing how to swim and having that fear of falling in the water at any moment. He heard Rei chuckle beside him and he opened his eyes back up to look at him.

“I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself.”

Nagisa grinned at Rei and took a few more moments to gaze out at the horizon before Nagisa heard music start to play. His head perked up at the sound and he turned to Rei to grab his hand and proceeded to pull him back to the party.

“Ahh! N-Nagisa, what are you—?” Nagisa stopped just before they got the main part of the deck where everyone had started to dance, and he gave a slight bow to Rei and held his out his hand to him. “Oh, you want to dance?” Nagisa gave Rei a sly grin and nodded in agreement. “Heh, I’d love to.” Rei took Nagisa’s hand and Nagisa pulled him out onto the dance floor.

He placed his right hand on Rei’s waist and took Rei’s other hand in his left and suddenly all of those lessons with Haru came flooding back to him and he pulled Rei in a little closer before he started to move around. Rei seemed a little tense at first, probably because he wasn’t expecting Nagisa to lead, but he soon relaxed into it.

The pace of the song soon picked up and Nagisa spun Rei around a few times before moving the both of them along a lot faster than before, and the look on Rei’s face was adorably funny. Nagisa then spun Rei out and spun him back in before twirling the both of them around and trying his best to give Rei at least a half-way dip before the song finally ended and another one started.

Rei looked completely bewildered as to what happened. “N-Nagisa? Wow that was…how did you…? Where did you learn how to do that?”

Nagisa smiled and pulled out his notepad to scribble out Haru’s name really quick.

Rei smiled. “I should have figured as much, I was the one who taught him to begin with.” Rei gave the notepad back to Nagisa. “So why did you have Haru teach you how to dance for the party?”

Nagisa wrote in his pad again. _“I wanted to surprise you.”_

“Well, you succeeded in doing that. I’m actually quite impressed with how well you pulled that off. Looks like you’re a quick learner when it comes to dancing too.” Rei’s smile suddenly turned mischievous. “How would you like to dance again? But how about we make a little competition out of it?”

Nagisa liked the sound of that. _“So, what kind of competition?”_

“We’ll dance through one whole song and try to trick each other into getting led, and whoever can lead the other the longest wins.”

Nagisa’s eyes narrowed playfully. _“What does the winner get, then?”_

“The winner gets to lead fully during our next dance.”

Nagisa smiled. _“I like those odds. When shall we start?”_

“Well, the current song should be ending soon. So when the next one starts.”

Nagisa nodded and the two of them stood there and only had to wait about 30 more seconds until the song finally ended and the next one started. Nagisa was going to make sure he had the starting advantage, so he grabbed Rei’s hand and pulled him onto the dance floor immediately. He gripped Rei’s waist tightly and held Rei’s body close before he twirled the both of them around. He looked up at Rei with a sly grin and could have laughed at how Rei’s face scrunched up in frustration.

Nagisa probably had a good 20 seconds on Rei before he swung Rei out into a spin, but that was a mistake because when Rei spun back in, he was easily able to take a hold of Nagisa’s waist and take the lead. Nagisa pouted and followed Rei, keeping a close eye out for any openings to take the lead again.

Rei had been leading Nagisa for almost 20 seconds himself when he felt Rei’s hand slightly loosen against his waist to get a better grip, and Nagisa took the opportunity to slip out of Rei’s grasp and by slipping out of his arms and going behind him to twirl him back around to grab his waist again.

“Hey, no fair!” Rei complained, but Nagisa merely smiled at him and pulled him closer and held him tighter.

He wasn’t going to give Rei any openings this time. Nagisa made sure to not do any other complex moves that could easily give Rei a chance to break free, so he just kept a normal pace and the same twirling he did before. He had just reached 35 more seconds when he accidentally twirled the two of them into a guest and Rei broke free from Nagisa’s grasp, apologized to the guest, and then still managed to get a hold of Nagisa once again.

When Rei was at about 25 seconds, Nagisa noticed that a lot of the party guests had stopped dancing and started watching the two of them dance instead. Nagisa’s nervousness from earlier just seemed to disappear while he was with Rei right now, and he couldn’t help but smile at the possibility of everyone thinking about how cute they were together. Rei’s time was at 40 seconds now and Nagisa wasn’t sure how long the song was and he couldn’t let Rei beat him, but he hadn’t had any opportunities to break free yet.

As if on cue, Nagisa felt Rei’s grip start to slip from his waist and Nagisa started to twirl himself out of Rei’s arms, but Rei got his grip back and twirled Nagisa back in and then spun him around to dip him.

Rei then gave Nagisa the most confident grin as he dipped him and gave a chuckle. “Looks like I’m going to win, Nagisa.”

Nagisa was about to pout at his loss, but then he realized he had an opening; Rei’s grip didn’t seem to be as tight at this angle. He smirked back up at Rei before he slipped out of Rei’s arms and slid underneath his legs, and before Rei could realize what was happening, Nagisa took his hand and pulled him in for at least another 5 seconds before the song finally ended.

Both of them were out of breath and staring right into each other’s eyes when the party guests started to applaud them. They broke out of their daze and looked around at the guests who were clapping and hollering, and they both shrugged and gave a bow before deciding to take a break at the refreshment table.

“Haha, that was really fun!” Rei laughed out once they got away from the crowd. “That last move you did was a clever one…I almost had you until the very end. Would you like some punch?”

Nagisa was completely parched, so he nodded rather harshly. Rei picked up two glasses, filled them, and then handed one to Nagisa.

“So, do you know how much time you got?”

Nagisa took a few sips of his punch before setting it down and taking out his notepad to scribble out the times he got. He spent a few minutes adding the times up, but he was able to figure it out; he got 55 seconds. He showed Rei his time and Rei grinned widely.

“Ha! I got 60 seconds!” Nagisa’s nose scrunched up in defeat, but it was okay. He still had fun anyways. “That was a close one, though. I’m still very impressed with how well you danced out there.”

Nagisa beamed at Rei as he looked down at him with a warm smile and took a few more sips of his punch. Nagisa put his pad away and gulped down the rest of his punch just before a few girls walked up and asked Rei and Nagisa to dance.

Nagisa didn’t really want to, and from the looks of it, neither did Rei, but they still went with it because the girls looked really excited to dance and they didn’t want to ruin anyone’s night. So they both agreed and the girls took them out to the dance floor and danced with them for a few songs.

 

* * *

 

Haru snuck some mackerel from the food table and was able to slip off to the back of the ship without anyone noticing. He stuck his head over the side and looked around, but couldn’t see anything.

“Psst, Makoto!” Haru called as loud as he could without anyone else hearing.

“Ah, Haru!” Makoto popped into view. “How’s everything going up there?”

“It’s good. Rei and Nagisa danced a few times, they seemed to really enjoy themselves. Now they’re dancing with some other people, but I’m sure that won’t last long.”

“Hehe, I’m sure too. I’m glad everything’s going well!”

“So um, I figured you might be hungry,” Haru took out the mackerel he took from the food table and held it over the side. “You like mackerel, yeah?”

“Oh!” Makoto smiled brightly. “Yes, I do! Thank you so much!”

Haru smiled back and then threw the mackerel over the side for Makoto to catch. “I’ll come back again later for more updates. Sorry I can’t stay here with you longer.”

“It’s okay, Haru!” Makoto mumbled between bites. “Thanks again for the mackerel!”

“Don’t mention it.” Haru stepped away from the edge of the boat and turned back around to see a girl standing there; it made him nearly jump far enough back to go flying off of the boat.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The girl apologized. “I was just looking to get away from the crowd for a while.”

“It’s fine.” Haru took a closer look at the girl and recognized her as the girl that Sei’s brother was pining after all night, so he understood why she’d want to get away. She was one of Lady Chikako’s daughters, if Haru remembered correctly, but that didn’t really matter; he just hoped that she didn’t overhear him talking to Makoto. “Well, I’m going to head back now.” Haru said awkwardly and he hurried past her and went to see what Rei and Nagisa were up to now.

 

* * *

 

Rei was sitting on a chair near one of the refreshment tables and he sighed. He had finished dancing with the girl a good ten minutes ago and he wanted to dance with Nagisa again, but another girl asked Nagisa to dance, and of course Nagisa didn’t want to refuse and hurt her feelings. So Rei just sat and waited, but this particular girl just wouldn’t give him up.

“Hey, what are you sulking over here for?” Rei’s brother took a seat next to him. “Why aren’t you dancing with Nagisa?”

“Well, he’s still dancing with a girl who asked him a while ago.” Rei pouted.

“Then go butt in! You’re not gonna let her keep Nagisa all night, are you?”

“I don’t know, that seems a little rude.”

“Oh, who cares? You’re the Prince, aren’t you? And it’s not rude if you ask nicely, right?”

“I suppose.”

“Good! Now,” he stood up and pulled Rei up from his chair and straightened his bow tie before pushing him slightly towards the dance floor. “Wait for the song to finish and get up there as fast as you can before the next one starts!”

“Alright!” Rei listened carefully and started to walk over once he heard the song slowly start to fade out. He tapped the girl on the shoulder. “Excuse me, I hope you don’t mind if I cut in.”

“Oh, of course not, your highness!” The girl looked back to Nagisa and smiled. “Thank you for the dance.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then ran away giggling.

Rei tried to stifle a laugh as he watched the girl run away and then greet her friends who were most likely asking about the dance. He turned back to Nagisa and Nagisa looked extremely relieved and mouthed a ‘thank you’ to him. “Sorry I didn’t cut in sooner. Though, she _was_ dancing with you a while. Do you need a break?”

Nagisa shook his head and took Rei’s hand in his and pulled him in just as the next song started; Rei’s heart sped up when he noticed how slow-paced the song was.

Rei smirked and took Nagisa’s hand from his waist. “I believe _I_ won the competition, so I get to lead this time.” Rei expected Nagisa to pout or something, but instead Nagisa just smiled and let him grip his waist with no complaints. Rei’s smirk softened into a smile and he happily pulled Nagisa in close.

It was really nice to dance to a slower paced song after all the fast ones they danced to so far this evening. In fact, this was the first slow song Rei heard all night, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. It gave Rei a better chance to actually look at Nagisa, and his heart was all a flutter at their closeness. They moved together beautifully, much more so than the first time they danced when they went to the village; and this time Rei knew how he felt about Nagisa, so he didn’t look away when Nagisa stared up into his eyes.

Nagisa’s eyes lidded and he carefully leaned into Rei and softly placed his head on Rei’s shoulder. Rei’s heart flipped and he took in a sharp breath before steadily relaxing and returning the gesture by gently resting his head on top of Nagisa’s and slowly bringing his hand up from Nagisa’s waist and to the back of his neck. Rei breathed Nagisa in and smiled softly into his hair; he was so content in this moment and would have loved to stay like this forever, but unfortunately the song ended far too soon and the next song was back to being fast-paced again.

Even so, it took a moment before the two broke away from each other and they looked at each other for another moment, and the happy look on Nagisa’s face gave Rei all the confidence he needed. He…he had to confess. _Right now_.

“Hey, let’s get out of the crowd for a while and go somewhere quiet.”

Nagisa nodded and let Rei lead him to the front of the ship where Rei knew was a sitting area that only he and his brother had access to. They climbed up the stairs going to the next deck and went around the side and found the sitting area on the bow of the ship. Rei smiled as they arrived because the timing really couldn’t be any more perfect; the sun was starting to set and the view was beautiful and very romantic.

Nagisa’s eyes rounded and he let go of Rei’s hand to get a closer look; Rei smiled and joined Nagisa soon after.

“The view is very beautiful, isn’t it?” Rei almost whispered as he looked over to Nagisa instead of the sunset. Nagisa nodded happily and Rei let him watch the view for a few more minutes before he gulped and slowly took Nagisa’s hands in his. “So, um. I actually wanted to tell you something, Nagisa.”

Nagisa looked up at Rei and for a moment, Nagisa almost looked scared, but then he slid his hands out of Rei’s and took his note pad out of his coat to write. _“I actually had something that I wanted to tell you too.”_

Rei’s heart sped up upon reading this message. Was Nagisa trying to do the same thing he was? “Oh? Well, by all means…you go first.”

Nagisa wrote again. _“Well, it’s kind of a long story.”_

Rei chuckled. “That’s okay. We have all night, after all.”

Nagisa nodded and took in a deep breath before he started writing out another message. _“It’s about the night I saved you.”_

Well, this wasn’t what Rei was expecting, but he was fine with this. He had actually wanted to know about that night for a long time now. Rei gestured for Nagisa to continue. “Yes?”

Nagisa took the notepad back and began to write again, but then he suddenly dropped the pencil onto the floor.

“Ah, oops.” Rei bent over to pick it up for him and handed it back. “Here you go.”

Nagisa took it and started to write again, but his body suddenly jerked and he dropped _both_ the pencil and the notepad this time as well as losing his balance nearly toppling over.

“Nagisa?” Rei helped Nagisa stand back onto his feet. “Are you alright?” Nagisa nodded his head and then tried to reach for the notepad on the floor, but this time he fell all of the way down and Rei couldn’t catch him in time. “Nagisa?!” Rei scrambled to the ground and rolled Nagisa over onto his back. “Nagisa! What’s wrong?! Are you okay?!”

Nagisa tried to sit up, but his body started to tremble harshly and his face tensed up with pain, so he fell back down with a loud thump.

“Nagisa?!” Rei’s heart started racing out of fear and Nagisa’s eyes started to water and his trembling became stronger. “NAGISA?!” Rei started to panic. He had no idea what was happening and Nagisa had no way of telling him what was wrong. “Help. Help! Someone help!” Rei stood up and rushed back to the party and yelled for help. The music suddenly stopped playing and the guests stopped dancing and they all looked at Rei in confusion.

“Rei, what’s wrong?!” His brother asked as he and Haru ran over immediately.

“It’s Nagisa! He just collapsed and I think he’s in serious pain right now! I don’t know what’s happening! Please…just help me!”

“Doctor! I need the doctor now!” Rei’s brother yelled and their doctor came running as fast as he could and the four of them rushed to the next deck.

Rei was the first one back to the sitting area and his heart sank when he saw that Nagisa was trembling even more now, and the doctor rushed to his side. Rei started to rush to his side as well, but his brother grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Rei, Let the doctor have some room to work.”

Rei gritted his teeth, but reluctantly listened to his brother. He was right, the doctor needed space, so Rei stood there and watched the doctor examine Nagisa. Unfortunately, the more time that passed, the more pain Nagisa looked to be in, and it was extremely difficult for Rei to not just rush over there and hold Nagisa in his arms. He just wished he knew what was going on and if there was any way he could help.

As the doctor finished looking at Nagisa’s eyes, he reached for Nagisa’s wrist to check his pulse, but Nagisa resisted and his body started to thrash around suddenly, his mouth open in a silent scream.

Rei couldn’t take it anymore and tried to run to Nagisa’s side, but his brother held him back again.

“ _Rei!_ Let him handle this!”

“Like _hell_ I will!”he jerked his arm out of his brother’s grasp and proceeded to hurry over.

Once over there, he didn’t even pay attention to what the doctor was doing and only focused on Nagisa, and he really _did_ look like he wanted to scream out in pain. It made Rei tense up, but he was almost glad Nagisa couldn’t scream because he didn’t know if he could bear to hear Nagisa in so much pain. It was already hard enough to watch his body thrash around. God, that was such an awful thing to think! What was wrong with him?

Rei put a hand to Nagisa’s cheek and tried to keep himself from crying and to hopefully help Nagisa somehow. “Nagisa…” he sobbed. What was happening? Was Nagisa going to be okay? Nagisa looked up at Rei through his tears and they stared at each other for a moment before Nagisa’s eyes grew wide and he unexpectedly sat up and started grabbing at his legs; the pain on his face suddenly intensifying.

“Doctor? What’s going on?!” Rei’s brother yelled in concern.

“I…I don’t know. This doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before.”

Rei couldn’t believe this was happening. One moment he was holding Nagisa close during a dance, and the next he was on the floor wreathing in pain. Rei watched as Nagisa tore at his pants and he couldn’t hold back his tears anymore. Please. Oh god, please let Nagisa be okay!

“Oi, Haru!” Rei hear his brother call from behind him, “Get back here! We might need you!”

Rei turned around and saw Haru bolting off to the other side of the ship for some reason, and then noticed a few of the guests had come up to the deck to see what all the commotion was about. Rei grit his teeth in annoyance, but just ignored them and turned back to Nagisa who was now actually tearing his pants off along with his shoes right after; the site Rei saw next nearly made him scream out in terror.

Nagisa’s legs looked as though they were melting together into one giant mass and Rei was so terrified, but he didn’t look away and didn’t stop holding on to Nagisa’s hand. He couldn’t just leave Nagisa like this, no matter how afraid he was.

He looked up to Nagisa’s face again and he was covered in so much sweat and the tears were staining his face. Rei kept a firm grip on Nagisa’s hand and brought his other one to caress Nagisa’s face again. “It’s going to be okay, Nagisa.” Rei reassured, even though he didn’t even believe that himself. “I’m here. Everything’s going to be okay.”  

Rei then brought his other hand up to try and brush some of the hair out of Nagisa’s face and behind his ear, but his hand jerked back when he felt a strange fish-like texture where Nagisa’s ear should be. What in the world?!

Rei leaned in a little closer and started to move Nagisa’s hair out of the way to look when Nagisa started squeezing Rei’s hand tighter than before. Rei nearly jerked his hand away when he felt another weird texture on Nagisa’s hand. Rei looked down and noticed his fingers were suddenly webbed, and that was definitely not something Rei remembered Nagisa having. Nagisa tightened his grip on Rei’s hand again and his body started jerking more roughly.

Suddenly everything went quiet and still for a moment before Rei heard screams and gasps come from the guests behind him. Confused, Rei looked down at Nagisa’s legs again and dropped Nagisa’s hand in shock. What…just what was he looking at right now? Where Nagisa’s legs used to be laid some sort of fish-like tail instead and Rei stared at it in utter shock. What was…how…what on _earth_ was this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes finally an update! Heh, sorry about the cliffhanger, everyone. I've had this planned from the very beginning and I was so excited when I got to this chapter, muahahaha >:3
> 
> But hey, at least Momo made it into the story finally! xD


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this chapter! I'm so sorry for the wait and thank you all for being so patient with me!

The pain was completely unbearable, and Nagisa had no idea what was happening; all he could do was lay there and try to wait it out, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it. It was like his insides were on fire, but there was no way to calm them down…just what was going on? The only thing that was ever _this_ painful was when he first transformed into a human and…wait. No. He couldn’t be _changing back,_ could he?! This wasn’t right. He still had another day left; there was no way he was changing back!

Had he violated one of Sumi’s rules? No, he couldn’t have done that. The only rules she had were that Nagisa couldn’t kiss Rei and that he had 30 days; was it because he was going to tell Rei the truth? Why would _that_ cause him to change back? Sumi never mentioned that he couldn’t do that, so Nagisa was at a complete loss for what was going on.

Suddenly, even more pain shot through Nagisa’s legs and he sat up quickly to reach for them. His pants were starting to become really tight and uncomfortable, and having that extra ache really wasn’t helping at all; he needed to get these pants off right away! He tore them off and nearly fainted at the sight. His legs were practically melting just like his fin had been back when he had gotten his legs, except this time his legs were melting together into a giant mass. Nagisa’s eyes trembled and he felt sick to his stomach, so he laid his head back down onto the ground so he wouldn’t have to look at them anymore. He…really _was_ turning back, wasn’t he?

Nagisa then glanced over to his side where Rei had been sitting the entire time; he was squeezing his hand again and had a very scared and pained look on his face. Rei reached a hand up to Nagisa’s cheek and stroked it reassuringly, despite not knowing what was happening to Nagisa. Nagisa was thankful for the gesture and he just wanted Rei to know what was going on and that he was going to be okay, but there was no way of getting that point across to him and Nagisa felt horrible about how much he was making Rei worry.

Nagisa realized that he had been sweating really badly and his bangs were starting to stick to his forehead, which was just another thing to add to his long list of discomfort that evening, especially since Nagisa couldn’t gather the strength to will his own arms to lift up and move it. Rei seemed to have noticed Nagisa’s discomfort and started to brush his hair out of his face, which Nagisa was grateful for, until Rei moved to tuck the hair behind Nagisa’s ear.

Nagisa’s eyes widened when he realized that his ears weren’t…they didn’t feel the same anymore! Nagisa’s gaze shot quickly over to Rei and he wanted to stop him before Rei reached his ear, but Nagisa was in too much pain to stop him; Rei’s hand had grazed Nagisa’s ear for a short moment before jerking his hand back immediately after touching it.

If Nagisa’s ears had changed back already, it was only a matter of time before his hands and arms did too, as well as his fin. Nagisa looked up to Rei’s face just in time to see his expression change to…what was that expression? Confusion? Disgust? Nagisa’s heart suddenly felt really heavy and his eyes started to fill with tears again, but it wasn’t because of the pain.

What was going to happen when he changed back completely? What would Rei even _think_ of him? Would he be scared? Disgusted? Would he feel lied to and betrayed? Nagisa clenched his eyes shut and looked away from Rei. Nagisa should have told him the truth sooner, then maybe things would be different.

More pain suddenly shot through Nagisa’s legs again and he tightly clenched onto Rei’s hand and gritted his teeth to bear with it. He felt the slight hesitance in Rei’s grip because, Nagisa could only guess, his fingers were starting to become webbed again. Though he couldn’t even think about that right now because all he wanted to do was yell out, but all he could so was shake violently and hope that Rei didn’t let go of his hand. The pain was just too much and Nagisa was starting to feel exhausted and weakened from this whole ordeal.

After few more jolts of excruciating pain, it was finally over. The pain was slowly fading away and Nagisa decided to glance down to where his legs were. His heart fell upon seeing them because they weren’t legs anymore; his fin was there instead. Nagisa’s felt himself tremble and couldn’t stop himself from letting out a sob. Damnit! He was just… _so close_ to making it! If he only had twenty more minutes he could have explained everything to Rei, and if what Rei wanted to talk to Nagisa about was what Nagisa was thinking it was going to be about, then Rei might have even _kissed him_ by then; but that didn’t matter anymore.

Nagisa laid his head back down and tilted it to the side to look at Rei who now had a look of terror on his face. Nagisa could only imagine what was going through Rei’s mind right now, but he didn’t have time to think about it because his eyes fell closed and he finally lost consciousness.

 

* * *

 

“Are you serious?!” Makoto yelled from the water once Haru was able to get over there and tell him what had just happened. “Nagisa can’t be…he still has another day left!”

“That’s what I thought too!” Haru yelled back. “Are you sure you counted the days right?”

“Yes! The both of us have been keeping close track of it since day one! There’s no way he’d just…something must have went wrong!”

“Was it because Nagisa tried to tell Rei the truth about everything?”

“No, Sumi never mentioned anything like that, but…well…”

“Well…?”

“It wouldn’t really surprise me if she went back on her word and changed Nagisa back early. She…really was not a nice lady, you should have seen the look on her face when Nagisa was changing into a human. Her expression was completely different from when she first greeted us, and then her laugh was just…” Makoto shivered. “It was _not_ pleasant at all. Not to mention her creepy assistant…”

Haru sighed. “Then why would Nagisa still go through with this if she was just a creepy—” A few screams and loud gasps from the other side of the ship interrupted Haru and made his head turn quickly.

“What was that?!” Makoto questioned, sounding concerned.

“It sounded like a guest. I’m gonna go back to check on Nagisa.” He turned back to Makoto. “You should swim around to the front.”

“Good idea! I’ll meet you over there!”

 

* * *

 

Rei had obviously heard of merpeople before because he remembered doing research on them back when he was trying to learn how to swim; and although their existence seemed extremely illogical, it helped Rei feel better about the situation somehow. He never really believed they were real even though there were so many books about them, and even now as what seemed to be an actual merman was right in front of him, he still couldn’t believe it. Especially because this supposed merman was, in fact, _Nagisa_.

He stared at Nagisa as he thought and so many questions came rushing into his head. Was this a dream? How can this kind of thing even be real? Was _Nagisa_ even real? Had this entire thing, their friendship, their bonding, and everything else, had it all been a lie? Rei shook his head. No, this couldn’t be a lie. There was no way Nagisa would just _lie_ about all of that. His feelings were too genuine; well, they seemed to be at least. Plus, it wasn’t like Nagisa actually lied, he just…neglected to tell him the truth, was all.

Rei’s eyes wandered over to the side and saw the notepad on the ground next to Nagisa, so he quickly grabbed it and flipped through it to hopefully find the correct page. He only had to flip through a few pages to find the one he was looking for, but there were only a few words on the page that Nagisa had managed to write before he collapsed. Rei looked closely at the words and read them: _“So, first thing’s first, I’m—”_ and that’s all it said.

Rei read the words over and over again. Nagisa was _what_ , exactly? It could have been any number of things. ‘I’m nervous’, ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘I’m happy’, the list went on. Rei read it one more time and thought that maybe Nagisa had _tried_ to tell him about all of this but then he…Rei looked back to Nagisa and suddenly realized he was now no longer moving and his eyes were shut. Rei’s eyes widened in worry. Wait…no! He…he couldn’t be…

“Nagisa?!” Rei grabbed Nagisa’s shoulders and lifted him up to shake him a few times. “Nagisa, please!” After getting no response, he set Nagisa back down and placed his fingers to Nagisa’s throat to check for a pulse, but he jerked his hand back once again at _another_ strange texture that was on Nagisa’s neck this time. Rei took a closer look and saw three slits on the side of Nagisa’s neck that were definitely not there before. What were _those_? _Gills_?

Rei frantically looked up to the doctor, but the doctor looked just as confused as he was. Rei gulped, and his voice shook when he spoke. “He’s not d-dead, is he?”

The doctor leaned down, grabbed Nagisa’s wrist, and checked for a pulse; he waited a few seconds more before he shook his head. “No, he’s not dead. He’s just unconscious.”

Rei exhaled in relief and brought his hand up to Nagisa’s face again; he was still scared and he had no idea what was going on, but he was glad that Nagisa seemed to be okay. If…this is what could be defined as okay.

“What the _hell_ is _that_ thing?!” One of the guests shouted, sounding disgusted. Rei groaned in annoyance; he’d forgotten they were all still there.

He glanced over at them and his eyes narrowed at the guest who so rudely spoke up about Nagisa, and he felt about ready to stand up and slap him across the face. He had no idea what Nagisa really was, and there was still so many more questions he had, but Nagisa was still very precious to him. So hell if he’d let people talk about him like that!

“Please,” Rei’s brother put a hand down in front of Rei as if he was stopping Rei from standing up to intervene. “If you would all go back to the first deck and return to the party, there’s nothing to see here.” Some of the guests nodded hesitantly and left the deck, but others started to argue; Rei’s brother growled loudly at them all and raised his voice. “Would you rather I just end the party now?! Because I can do that and then you’ll have to all go home!”

The guests scoffed at the prince’s threat, but eventually gave in and left to rejoin the party. Rei heard his brother sigh in relief and then he heard loud footsteps of someone running back up to the deck. “Oh, Haru, _there_ you are!” Rei glanced at Haru out of the corner of his eye, and it was strange but Haru didn’t seem too surprised about what happened; even for Haru who looked stoic most of the time, it was still odd. “You sure, uh, missed a lot.” Rei’s brother laughed awkwardly.

Rei’s brother started to give Haru a brief explanation, so Rei tuned it out and changed his position so he could sit more comfortably next to Nagisa; he looked down at his face and didn’t look away even as the doctor got up and left for the lower deck as well. “Nagisa...” Rei took Nagisa’s hand in his again and brought it up to his face. “What happened to you? Why are you a…?” Rei clenched his mouth shut to try and hold back his tears.

“Rei…” Haru’s voice spoke softly as he kneeled down next to him. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Rei looked to Haru without letting go of Nagisa’s hand. “Yes?”

“About Nagisa—”

“Is…everything okay?” came a small voice out of nowhere. Both Rei and Haru looked up and saw a guest still standing on the deck even after the others were told to return to the party. Rei recognized her as the black-haired girl that Sei’s brother was pining after all evening.

“I’m sorry,” Rei’s brother interrupted, trying very hard to not sound too irritated by having to deal with her. “But if you could pleasereturn to the party with the rest of the—”

The girl totally ignored Rei’s brother and walked right past him to get a little closer to Rei. “I was just worried about him, but it seems like you’re taking good care of him.” She smiled kindly. “It’s just…it’s so sweet of you to worry about him like that. My sister was a little disappointed at not getting to dance with him longer, but I thought you two looked really good together while dancing tonight.”

“Um, th-thank you…” Rei muttered out in slight confusion. It was nice to hear and it made Rei’s face heat up somewhat, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about her saying this right now. Why was she so calm?

Rei’s brother groaned. “Miss, if you could _please_ return to the—”

“You must really care about him a lot,” She interrupted and stepped right next to Rei to look down at him. “So, I’m really sorry about this…”

Rei lowered his brows and looked over to Haru, who had a very suspicious look on his face. Rei looked back to the girl again before he spoke. “Sorry about what?”

The girl’s kind smile suddenly turned into a sly grin and before Rei could even blink, she lifted up her healed foot and kicked Rei in the face with so much force, that he was pushed back harshly against the side of the boat. His head was throbbing from the force of the kick and his chest was tight due to the wind getting knocked out of him. He rubbed the spot on his face where the he had been kicked, thankfully nothing was bleeding, and he slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position; though he was still too disoriented to comprehend what had just happened.

He heard his brother and Haru both yell and he blearily looked over at the source of the noise to see that both of them had been struck down as well, and were on the opposite side of the boat from him. Rei watched as the girl knelt down next to Nagisa to pick him up and throw him over her shoulder. Rei’s head was throbbing, but the disorientation was fading and he finally caught on to what was happening. What was she doing with Nagisa?!

“What are you…?” Rei made himself stand. “What are you doing?! Put him down!”

The girl merely laughed and then kicked off her shoes before she jumped up onto the side of the ship with Nagisa still over her shoulder. “Sorry, no can do. The magic’s run out and I’m nearly at my limit as well. So I can’t stay and chat.” She gave a small salute, stepped off of the side of the boat, and dropped into the water.

Rei didn’t hesitate and bolted toward the side of the boat, although clumsily, and saw the girl already swimming away with Nagisa. Rei was amazed at how much speed she was gaining in such a short amount of time, but as he looked at her form disappearing in the distance, it seemed as though her legs had also turned into some sort of fin that helped her swim faster.

“Makoto!” Rei heard Haru yell over the side of the boat. “That girl took Nagisa and—”

“I’m on it!” Rei heard a voice yell back from the water and then he saw yet _another_ finned person dash away after the girl. “I…what…what’s going on?” Rei looked to Haru and his brother and then back to the water. Everything was just happening way too fast and he needed answers; but wait…what was he doing just standing here and wasting precious time?! He couldn’t just let Nagisa get _taken,_ he had to save him! He frantically stripped off his jacket, kicked off his shoes, and then got onto the side of the boat to jump into the water, but someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back before he did.

“What the hell, Rei? Are you crazy?!” Rei’s brother yelled as he pulled him off of the ledge. “You can’t swim, remember?!”

“But…Nagisa! Someone has to—”

“Yeah, but not _you!_ You’ll drown!”

“But I…”

“I’ll handle it, Rei.” Haru stepped in, already stripping down to jump into the water. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch up, but that’s why I had Makoto go after them.”

“Makoto?” Rei lowered his brows. “Who is…is that who was just out there? How do you know his name? How do you even know who he is?” Rei took a hold of Haru’s shoulders. “What was with that girl? Why did she take Nagisa?! What on earth is going on?!”

“There’s no time to explain. Later, okay? I’m sorry about all of this.” Haru stepped up to the side of the ship and dived perfectly into the water.

“Here, you might need this!” Rei’s brother threw a knife into the water and once Haru retrieved it and tied the strap around his hips, he swam off instantly. Rei had no idea what was going on, so he looked to his brother for reassurance, but he seemed far more calm and collected than Rei.

“Nagisa suddenly changed into a…a merman, we just got attacked by some… _mermaid_ that was masquerading as one of Lady Chikako’s daughters, and then she took Nagisa. How the hell are you so calm about all of this?! Did you know about this somehow?!”

“Hey, I’m just as confused as you are, little brother.” He held up his hands defensively. “Believe me, if I knew that Nagisa was a fish I would have told you right away.”

Rei sighed and then looked back out at the open ocean and Haru was long out of sight. He was scared and confused and had no idea what to think, but he just hoped that they would bring Nagisa back home safe.

 

* * *

 

Makoto was swimming as fast as he could to catch up to Nagisa and his captor, and after about five or so minutes of racing after them, Makoto was close enough to finally make out who had taken Nagisa and his eyes widened upon the discovery, but he couldn’t say he was at all surprised considering Nagisa’s sudden transformation back into a merman; although he _was_ surprised that Nagisa hadn’t somehow recognized her if she had been on the ship the whole time…unless she had a disguise or something.

Makoto furrowed his brows and then sped up until he was close enough for her to hear him yell. “Kou! You give me Nagisa back right _now!_ ”

Kou slowed a little to look over her shoulder and sighed upon seeing Makoto. “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?” She turned around and readjusted Nagisa’s position on her back so he wouldn’t fall off as easily, then she looked to Makoto and smirked. “Though it’s not going to be easy for _you_ either.” She kicked her fin and shot straight toward Makoto with a lot of speed, her fists clenched tight.

Makoto wasn’t all that prepared for the first blow to come so fast, and speed was never his strong suit, he was more keen to strength, so he wasn’t able to dodge and took a sharp fist to his gut. He grunted and was pushed back into the open water quite a bit, but he was quick to recover and threw a punch right back at Kou. She was able to dodge it, but Makoto was able to get a hold of Nagisa’s arm and tried to pull him away. Kou noticed this and flipped around quickly, nailing Makoto in the face with her fin.

Makoto growled in annoyance and quickly took a hold of her fin before it was out of reach, and he threw her so harshly toward the surface that she breached for a moment and landed with a loud smack against the water. She was definitely weakened by that, so Makoto took the opportunity to rush over and strike again before she recovered. Makoto balled up his fist and got ready to strike, but Kou was also quick to recover and she pulled Nagisa over her shoulder to protect herself.

Makoto stopped his punch just in time so he wouldn’t hurt Nagisa, but because he stopped, Kou was able to take that time to strike him again. Makoto dodged and tried to get her from a different angle, but she was too quick and she pulled Nagisa over herself like a shield again. Makoto wasn’t able to stop his blow this time, and ended up punching Nagisa in the chest. Kou was pushed back a bit from the force of the punch, but she wasn’t the one who took the damage.

“Why you….!” Makoto yelled and dashed towards her, but she kept using Nagisa as a shield so he couldn’t lay any punches on her. Makoto shook in anger and frustration, she was just too fast and he couldn’t get to her in time before she’d just move Nagisa right in the line of fire.

How was Makoto going to get passed her if she kept doing this? He couldn’t just wait it out until she got tired, he didn’t have enough stamina for that, and he was certain she had way more than he did. He grit his teeth and looked at her again. There _had_ to be an opening somewhere, some way he could get to her quick enough so that she wouldn’t have time to hide behind Nagisa. Makoto’s eyes widened…of course! Why hadn’t he thought of it before?

If he went in for an attack like usual, she would move Nagisa in front of her, but then Makoto could stop his punch and try to grab Nagisa from her. It may not work, but it was definitely worth a shot. Makoto knitted his brows together and took a deep breath before balling up his fist and lunging at Kou again.

Just as Makoto had thought, she started to move Nagisa’s body in front of her own to block, and Makoto stopped his punch and took a hold of Nagisa’s shoulders to pull him away. Thankfully, Kou’s grip on him wasn’t as strong as the first time and Makoto almost freed him from her grasp; but instead, now that Nagisa wasn’t weighing her down, Kou was able to move quick enough to get behind Makoto and put him into a choke hold. Makoto gasped and lost grip of Nagisa as she tightened her arms around Makoto’s throat.

He tried to throw her off of him, but her grip was too tight and Makoto was starting to grow weak from the choke hold. Just when he thought he was going to lose all consciousness, something shot passed his head and hit Kou in the shoulder, causing her to scream in pain. She quickly let go of Makoto and he was able to swim away from her death hold.

She was gripping her shoulder as a bit of blood started to come out of it, which was great but…how? Makoto turned back around and saw Haru swimming there behind him; he nodded to Makoto and swam back up to the surface for a quick breath and Makoto was grateful and took the chance to grab Nagisa again while Kou was preoccupied with her shoulder.

He reached Nagisa quickly and started to fill with relief once he took a hold of him and swung him over his back. He then turned back around to see if Kou was still dealing with her shoulder, but she had gone from her spot and now Makoto was worried. Where had she…?

“That was pretty lucky that your friend showed up when he did, wasn’t it?”

Makoto tensed and turned around to see Kou holding onto a struggling Haru with her hand clenched tightly around his throat.

“H-Haru!” Makoto gasped. “You…you let him go! He can’t—”

“He can’t breathe under water, yes I know that. Now you can go ahead and take Nagisa if you want, but if you do…this one will drown.”

Makoto gritted his teeth and lowered his brows angrily. Damnit! He shouldn’t have let Haru out of his sight! Why didn’t it occur to him that Kou would be able to grab him so easily?

“So, wanna trade?” Kou suggested. “Let go of Nagisa and I’ll let go of your human friend.” Haru’s struggling slowly started to dwindle, but Makoto could see that Haru was weakly shaking his head at him. “Better hurry up and make a decision. Doesn’t look like he’ll last much longer.”

Makoto finally had Nagisa back, but there was no way he could just let Haru drown; not after all he did for them, not after having gotten involved in a such a huge mess that wasn’t even his own problem to begin with. “Okay, okay!” Makoto agreed. “Just…please let Haru go.” Makoto slipped Nagisa off of his back and Kou swam over to get him.

Kou smirked once she made it over. “Thank you for your cooperation.” She then threw Haru as far away as she could manage and took a hold of Nagisa before swimming away faster than she had been before. Makoto gasped and rushed over to grab Haru and pull him back up to the surface before it was too late.

Haru coughed harshly and gasped for air once they breached and his breathing was quick and heavy for a few minutes before it finally slowed down and regulated; he coughed a few more times before he looked up at Makoto to speak. “Thank you…”

“Thank _you_.” Makoto reiterated.

“What are you thanking _me_ for? If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t have gotten away.”

Makoto smiled. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be fish food.” Haru’s eyes widened and then he looked away timidly. “You seriously came just in time…I thought I was a goner.”

“Don’t mention it…” Haru mumbled without looking back at Makoto.

Makoto nodded and then let go of Haru so he could dive underneath the water to check if Kou was still in sight or not, but he couldn’t see her anywhere, so he returned back to the surface. “Well, looks like she’s gone. We should probably get you back to the ship for now.”

“But what about Nagisa?”

“Don’t worry. That girl was the sea witch’s accomplice, so I know where she’s going; but it isn’t really a place you’d be of any help since it’s really deep under water.”

“Ah, I see.” Haru frowned. “Will you be okay on your own, though?”

“I won’t be going in alone, that’s too dangerous. But I do know someone that could help me.”

Haru nodded and the two of them swam back the way they came and were about a third of the way there when they spotted a rowboat not too far away.

“Rei, what are you doing?!” Haru scolded as they swam close enough to see that Rei and his brother were in the boat approaching. “What if you had fallen out?!”

“Well, I couldn’t just sit and wait around while Nagisa is taken, could I? I needed to do something! Besides,” Rei crossed his arms. “I have Brother with me, so it shouldn’t matter.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Haru mumbled as he lifted himself onto the boat. “What about the party?”

“I put Goro and Sei in charge and had them sail back to shore and have the guests transfer to the ballroom.” Rei’s brother clarified.

Rei grumbled. “We really should have just sent everyone home, this is kind of an emergency, you know.”

“Well if I did that then people would complain that the party ended early and then I’d lose the bet with Mom!”

“Ugh, you are unbelievable.” Rei groaned and looked back to Haru. “Though, it doesn’t look like you got Nagisa back…” Rei’s shoulders lowered and he looked down at the water solemnly.

“We _did_ catch up to his kidnapper, though!” Makoto chimed in as he finally made over to the side of the boat. “But…she got away.”

Rei and his brother jumped at the sudden exclamation and nearly tipped the boat over in the process.

“Ah, sorry about that!” Makoto raised his arms apologetically.

“Who—” Rei started.

“—the hell are _you_?!” Rei’s brother finished, still sounding rather shaken from before.

“This is Makoto.” Haru introduced. “We, uh, should probably start explaining everything now, huh?”

Rei agreed. “Please do.”

 

* * *

 

Nagisa finally regained consciousness and laid still where he was for a moment before he did anything. The surface he was laying on was hard and uncomfortable, almost like his bed back home; which was funny because it never used to be uncomfortable before, he was just spoiled off of the comfort from the bed he’d been sleeping on for the past month. He could deal with the uncomfortable ground, though, it was far better than the pain from the transformation anyway.

Oh, that was right, he had transformed back, hadn’t he? He swallowed loudly and felt like he wanted to cry again. What was going to happen now? What was Rei going to say? Nagisa didn’t want to think about it, but there was no way to avoid it; and he couldn’t just continue to sit here and put it off any longer because he didn’t want to keep Rei waiting and worrying about him.

Nagisa took a deep breath, finally opened up his eyes, and sat up slowly; but when he looked to his right where Rei had been before, he wasn’t there. In fact, _no one_ was there. Nagisa started to panic and when he actually looked at his surroundings he realized he wasn’t even on the boat anymore. Where…where was he?! He was sure that the last thing he remembered was passing out on the ship, so how did he get here? He started to move around a lot more frantically and noticed that his movements felt different from before. He…he wasn’t even on land anymore! This was most definitely underwater, but he had no idea how. What had happened while he was unconscious?

“Oh, looks like he’s finally awake!” came a familiar voice; Nagisa turned around quickly and saw Kou on the other side of the room. “Are you feeling all right? That transformation must have been exhausting, not to mention painful.”

Nagisa lowered his brows and stared at Kou; now he was even more confused. He wanted to respond so he could find out what was going on, but he had nothing to write with and just waved his hands around to try and get the point across.

Kou giggled. “You know you can talk again now, right?”

Nagisa lifted his head in disbelief and then brought a hand up to his throat. Could he really…talk again? It had been so long since the last time he actually spoke that he had to try to remember what to do. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to make a few sounds come out, but it felt so strange; he’d definitely have to get used to talking again. He looked back over at Kou and cleared his throat once more before he spoke.

“Where am I, exactly?”

“Back at Sumi’s cave. Coming back here if you failed _was_ the deal, after all.”

“How did I even get here? What about the ship and the party…and Rei!”

“Already used to having your voice back, that was faster than I expected.” Kou laughed under her breath. “I brought you here. I was at the party disguised as a guest and waited for you to transform back.”

“But I still had another day left! Why did I change back early?!”

Kou lowered her brows. “I assure you that Sumi didn’t change you back early. She always keeps her word and never breaks a bargain.”

“No, that can’t be right. I still had another day I…I know it.” Nagisa wracked his brain and thought back to how he could have miscounted the days, but there was just no way. Not with both him _and_ Makoto keeping track. They couldn’t both be wrong, could they? Nagisa got up and started to swim towards Kou. “Well, where’s Sumi? Maybe I could talk with her and make a new de—ooof!” Nagisa’s arm jerked back and then he was pulled to the ground. What was _that_ about?

Nagisa looked down and noticed that there was some sort of plant tied to his arm that looked like it was attached to the wall. It must have been one of those weird things from before that latched onto you, so Nagisa hit the base of the plant as he remembered Kou doing before, but it still didn’t let him go; so he started to tug at it.

“Ack, Kou! Can you help me get this thing off? It won’t let go and it’s wrapped pretty tight.”

“Sorry, I can’t help you.”

Nagisa looked over his shoulder. “W-what do you mean?”

“If I untie you, then you’d be able to leave whenever you want. And we can’t have that, can we?”

“What?” Nagisa must have misunderstood. Why would she _want_ to keep him tied up?

“Well, you failed at making the deadline, and now you belong to Sumi, so you will stay put where Sumi wants you until she says otherwise. It was part of the bargain.”

“Ex-excuse me…what?!” Nagisa’s heart started to pound and he was sure there was no way he heard that right either. “No, the bargain was come back to live here if I failed…wasn’t it?”

Kou scoffed. “Maybe next time you should actually read what you’re signing. Though, there won’t really _be_ a next time for you, will there?”

Nagisa’s breath caught in his throat. No, this wasn’t…this wasn’t really part of the bargain, was it? Why would there be such a thing in there? “No, you’re…you’re wrong. I was just supposed to live here, I…I’m not…” Nagisa looked at his surroundings, at the plant tied around his wrist, and at Kou’s shrewd expression, and he suddenly remembered the day he transformed into a human and the way Sumi had been laughing. He remembered those awful dreams he had of a giant purple mass with Sumi’s voice stealing him away. He brought his hands up to his face in distress; he was such an idiot. Why didn’t he realize this before?!

“Oh, so you finally understood?” Nagisa looked up to find where the voice had come from. “You really _are_ naïve, little Prince.” Sumi emerged from the darkness and swam in front of Kou. “Go and take watch outside. I have a feeling we’ll be getting company really soon.” She shooed Kou off and then took a seat across from Nagisa. “So,” she said with an oddly kind voice and a fake smile. “How was your little…vacation? Did you have a good time?”

Nagisa’s expression changed from terrified to angry as he narrowed his eyes and suddenly felt the urge to scream at her, but he didn’t because he wasn’t sure what she would do to him if he got on her bad side.

“Well, considering that expression, I take it you _didn’t_ have a good time?” Nagisa didn’t respond and just clenched his fists. “Aww, aren’t you the least bit grateful for what I did for you? I would have thought you at least have fun being a human for a while.”

“What do you want me for?” Nagisa finally asked, managing to keep the volume of his voice low. “Why do you want to keep me here?”

“Oh, cutting to the chase already, are we?” Sumi’s tone of voice suddenly changed and her fake smiled disappeared. “Well, you’re going to find out eventually so might as well tell you now.” Sumi adjusted her position to get more comfortable and then tapped her long finger nails on the chair a few times before she finally began.

“So, for quite a long time, I’ve been collecting these rare black jellyfish that have magical youth properties and can reverse the aging process. The magic I possess isn’t powerful enough to create a spell to do this, so the black jellyfish were the only thing I could use to make a youth potion; but unfortunately for me,” she gave a childish pout, “The effects don’t last very long. So I had to get someone to find black jellyfish for me so I could make this potion every month, but since the jellyfish are rare, they eventually became harder and harder to find.

“With my supply running low, I tried everything I could to think of a solution and I came to discover that I could make the potion’s effects permanent with a special ritual; all I needed was another’s youth and beauty that I could sacrifice to make it work.” Sumi took a glance at the door Kou had left from. “Unfortunate for her, though, don’t you think? She has been quite helpful to me these past few months, but I made sure not to get too attached to her.”

Nagisa gasped to himself. Sumi was just going to sacrifice one of her own to make this potion? “You…you’re just going to betray her like that?!”

“Betray? Don’t make me laugh. She was never a friend, or anyone I cared about at all. She was always just a pawn for me to use in this plan, just like you. Anyways, back to my story. I had my lovely mershark and a youth potion to complete the ritual, but it turns out that my magic wasn’t nearly strong enough to make it work, and I had no other way to make what I so desired. That is until one day, a young merman came into my home asking for help, and that young merman happened to be none other than the prince, whose father had a very powerful source of magic; even more powerful than my own and definitely powerful enough for the ritual to finally work so I can make the potion. But, how would I acquire this powerful magic source? There was just no way I could swim casually up to the castle, sneak my way in, and steal it, right?” Sumi smirked. “That’s where you come in. You probably know every nook and cranny of that castle and how to get inside undetected, am I right? So why not just have you go in and steal your father’s scepter for me?”

“If all you wanted was my father’s scepter, then why didn’t you just kidnap me and hold me for ransom when I came to you a month ago?”

She laughed. “Where would be the fun in that? Some _do_ call me a sadist; and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see such a lovely young merman like yourself fall so deeply for someone only to have him taken away from you! Plus it’s so much easier to manipulate someone once you have something to blackmail them with, and lot more fun too.” Sumi laid back and stretched out her tentacles. “You also came to me seeking something my magic could easily give you, and I _love_ making bargains; especially when I can benefit greatly from them. It’s funny, I may be quite twisted in my ways, but I always keep my end of the bargain.”

“You _didn’t_ keep your end of the bargain!” Nagisa snapped. “You changed me back a day early!”

“Did I? How so?”

“You said I had 30 days as a human. Today was the 29th day!”

She stared blankly at Nagisa for a moment before she laughed again. “Oh no, no, no. I said 30 _sunsets_ ; not 30 days.” She placed her hand in her cheek and leaned forward before speaking in a baby voice. “Did you not count your first day up there?”

Nagisa’s breath hitched. “N-no. I arrived on the shore barely half an hour before the sunset! The day was already over!”

“Ah, but you still arrived before the sunset, therefore it counted as one of your 30.”

 _That_ was the reason Nagisa had changed back tonight?! How was he supposed to know he had to count that first sunset?! If he had realized that today had been the last day he would have told Rei the truth so much earlier and then he wouldn’t be in this mess right now. Nagisa’s hands started to tremble and he grit his teeth. “You tricked me.”

“Tricked you?” Sumi sounded offended. “I did no such thing! You just didn’t pay enough attention to the deal we made. It’s not _my_ fault you didn’t read over the contract before signing it.”

Nagisa’s lip started to tremble now and he tried to hold back a sob as he let himself sink to the ground. “I...I was so close.”

“That you were. Just…not close enough, I’m afraid.” Sumi gave another fake pout.

“What would you have done? If Rei had kissed me before the last sunset? You wouldn’t have me here to get the scepter for you…or would you have just changed me back anyways?”

“I would have kept my end of the bargain, of course! And you would have kept your legs and voiceless form and lived up there with your human for the rest of your boring life for all I cared. I still would have been able to carry out my plan. I took your voice for a reason, you know.” Nagisa threw a confused look at her. “While my transformation magic is very good, it still has flaws. I can transform merfolk to look like anyone I want, but their voice somehow stays the exact same and others would surely notice. So if I had your voice, it would be easy to disguise Kou as you and send her off to get the scepter herself.”

“But she doesn’t know the castle like I do. How would you get her to sneak in unnoticed even if she looked like me? I’ve been gone from home for a month, there’s no way she would have been able to just swim in the front door without anyone noticing and taking her straight to my father!”

“Exactly. Wherever your father is, the scepter is, correct?”

Nagisa opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again because he knew she was right. His father never let the scepter out of his sight, so it was usually in the throne room because that’s where he spent most of his time. He couldn’t believe how much thought she put into all of this, all in such a short amount of time of meeting him before she came up with what their bargain would be.

“So, if you would so kindly swim back to your home and get the scepter for me, that would be fantastic.”

Nagisa scoffed quietly to himself; how would she know if he didn’t just go straight to his dad and tell him everything that was going on? “And if I refuse?”

Sumi laughed dryly. “I knew you’d say that.” She snapped her fingers and one of her eels came swimming right in with a strange clear orb in its mouth. “Hello, my lovely. Please show prince Nagisa where your twin is.”

The eel set the orb down and swam around it a few times until an image showed up inside. Nagisa leaned forward a bit to see because it was difficult to make out, but after getting a little bit closer he was able to tell that the figure inside was Rei! He was in a row boat with his brother and Haru.

“If you refuse, or get any funny ideas about turning me in, I’ll have my lovely take out your precious human. He’s the blue-haired one, yeah? And if I remember correctly, he can’t swim either. So it will be easy to drag him under and far enough away from the others to drown him…”

Nagisa took in a sharp breath and his heart dropped. “You…you leave Rei out of this!”

“I will if you do as you are told.”

Nagisa exhaled unsteadily and felt a few tears form in his eyes before he angrily clawed at the sand underneath him. He couldn’t believe she was going through all of this trouble just to make a stupid _youth potion_.

“Fine…I’ll do whatever you want. Just please don’t involve Rei in this.”

“Excellent.” Sumi sneered. “Lovely, please untie him, will you?”

“Yes, Mistress.” The eel then swam over to Nagisa to untie the plant from his wrist and he rubbed the spot once he was free; the plant had been on there pretty tightly and it had left a mark on his arm.

“Now, you know what to do. Oh, and I’ll have my lovely here follow you so you won’t try any funny business.”

Nagisa clenched his fists at his sides and then nodded somberly. He couldn’t believe how much trouble he had gotten himself into, and he almost wished he never made that bargain with her in the first place; but then he would have never gotten to meet Rei, and that in itself was worth it. Though that didn’t really matter now, because Nagisa was probably never going to see Rei again.


	18. Chapter 17

Makoto had left Haru and Rei only about ten minutes ago, so it would have been another fifteen or so before he made it to Rin’s. He felt bad for having to leave most of the explanation of what was going on to Haru, but Rei probably trusted Haru’s word over his anyways; and Makoto didn’t want to waste any more time in case Nagisa were in trouble.

He was swimming to see Rin because he was the only person who could help him right now, and Makoto hoped that he would agree. He wasn’t sure why he’d refuse, though, because while the two of them had started off not particularly liking each other…well actually _Rin_ was the one started off not liking Makoto, but despite Rin’s prejudices, they had started to become pretty good friends ever since Nagisa became a human.

Rin definitely had gained a soft spot for Nagisa too, most people did, and so he’d come to visit as often as he could; but as the month went on, Nagisa started getting busier and busier with Rei, so when Rin came to visit, the two of them would hang out and sometimes hunt together. Sadly, Makoto hadn’t actually seen Rin in a while, which was oddly strange timing considering Haru started to hang out with Makoto in Rin’s place. So Makoto hoped that Rin had other reasons for not visiting anymore and that he hadn’t changed his mind about him or something.

Makoto was now about another ten minutes away from Shipwreck Rock, but as he looked ahead he spotted someone in the distance. He squinted his eyes to try to make out who it was and he noticed a mop of red hair and his heartbeat quickened. Was that…Kou?! Makoto looked around him and was happy to see there was a boulder not too far from him that he could hide behind.

This was perfect! All he had to do was wait for the right moment and then do a surprise attack and tackle Kou. He just hoped she hadn’t seen him, but he’d just have to wait to find out. He quickly peeked around discreetly to see how far away she was and even though it was only a quick glance, he was able to tell that she was just a few more yards away from him.

He didn’t wanna risk looking again in case she saw him, so he just waited patiently until he saw her start to pass the boulder out of the corner of his eye; he then pushed himself off of it and leapt out to tackle her. “Aha! I got you now!” Makoto yelled out as he managed to take Kou down into the sand.

“H-hey! What’s the big idea?!” came a voice that was _definitely_ not Kou’s voice. “M-Makoto? What the hell did you do _that_ for? Get off of me!”

“R-Rin?!”

“Of course it’s Rin, who the hell else would I be?! Or do you just like to tackle people at random?”

“Ah, n-no! Of course not!” Makoto quickly got off of Rin and extended a hand out to help him up. “Sorry! I thought you were someone else.”

Rin cocked a brow and gave a gruff chuckle. “Funny, I didn’t know _you_ had any other mershark friends.”

“Ah, well, I don’t! The mershark I thought you were, she’s not really a friend…and it was mainly your hair color that made me think you were…ah! But what perfect timing! I was just on my way to see you actually!”

Rin laughed. “I was actually on my way to see _you_. What are the odds?” Rin cricked his neck a bit, seemingly adjusting it from just being tackled. “So what were you coming to see me about? Must be pretty important considering that you hate going over to Shipwreck Rock…”

“Ah, it is! It’s an emergency! Nagisa’s been taken!”

Rin’s eyes rounded in worry and he quickly took a hold of Makoto’s shoulders. “Wh-what? By who?!”

Makoto flinched slightly at Rin’s reaction, but he just decided to shrug it off and continued. “Sumi’s…er, the Sea Witch’s accomplice! Rei was having this party on his ship and everything was going perfectly fine, but then Nagisa suddenly changed back somehow! He wasn’t supposed to change back until tomorrow, so we don’t have any idea what’s going on! Sumi’s accomplice had apparently been at the party the entire time disguised as someone else and she took Nagisa away as soon as he turned back! I tried to go after her but,” Makoto looked down. “She got away…

“And I _knew_ that this bargain Nagisa made with her so he could become human was sketchy from the very beginning, but I still failed to protect him like I’m supposed to. I can’t believe I let her get away so easily and now I don’t know what will happen to Nagisa!” Makoto clenched his fists and grit his teeth in frustration. “If anything were to ever happen to him while he was supposed to be under my protection I…I would never forgive myself.”

“Makoto, this isn’t your fault. There was no way you could have known this would happen even if you _did_ have suspicions about it. I had my own suspicions about you when I first met you, but you turned out to become a good friend to me. So please don’t blame yourself for what happened. What you’re doing to solve it now is what matters.”

Makoto looked back up at Rin. “Thank you, Rin. That really…means a lot to me. I’m happy to hear that you consider me a friend. Which is why I was hoping that it wouldn’t be too much to ask you if—”

“You want my help to go get Nagisa back, right?”

Makoto shouldn’t have been so surprised by Rin’s confident answer, but he was just so happy to hear him agree to help him. “Yes! If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I would be very grateful for your help.”

“Well,” Rin lowered his brows seriously. “Then please lead the way.”

Makoto’s eyes filled with tears and he felt relief wash over him. “Oh my god, thank you, Rin!”

Rin nodded, then he took his hands off of Makoto’s shoulders and waited to follow him. Makoto didn’t hesitate and started swimming to Sumi’s cave as fast as he could go.

The swim was quiet other than the sound of the water moving around them and Makoto would glance behind him every so often to see if Rin was still following. He was, of course, but Makoto wanted to make sure. In fact, Rin seemed like the kind of person that would probably be able to outswim him a race if he wanted to, but that could be saved for another time, for now there were more important matters to be tended to. Every time Makoto glanced back at him, however, he noticed the determined and worried look on Rin’s face; and even though this situation was pretty serious, he couldn’t help but give a small laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Rin asked, not sounding amused.

“It’s just…you seemed so worried about Nagisa before; you’ve really gotten a soft spot for him, haven’t you?”

“Well, he’s a cute kid and stuff, and he gave me all that money even though he didn’t need to.”

“So you feel the need to repay him? Because you know you don’t have to. Nagisa didn’t give you that money so that it could be paid back later. It was a gift.”

“I’m not helping Nagisa because I feel like I need to repay him, it’s just…” Rin slowed down his pace a little. “He reminds me of my sister.”

“Oh, right. Nagisa told me about her. I…I’m sorry for—”

“Don’t apologize. It makes it sound like you’re offering your condolences for a lost loved one. I just…I can’t believe that she’s gone yet. I have to keep looking for her until I know for sure that she’s…” Rin stopped swimming completely. “That’s why I’m helping Nagisa. Because he was taken, just like my sister was. I couldn’t help her, but I can help Nagisa. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“As, I see.” They started swimming again. “I’m glad that you’re willing to help. This accomplice of Sumi’s…she’s really quick and she’s smart. If it wasn’t for Haru, she probably would have killed me…”

“Haru?”

“Oh right, he’s actually uh…he’s Rei’s friend.”

“Rei as in _Nagisa’s_ Rei?”

Makoto nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“How in the world did you befriend a human in that short amount of time? How did he even find out about you? What the hell else did I miss when I was gone?!”

Makoto gave a nervous laugh. “It’s a long story. I’ll have to tell you about it later when this is all over with.”

Rin scowled at that, but he gave an obligatory nod and the two of them started swimming at a faster pace again. It had grown quiet again not too long after, but then Makoto spoke up once more to break the silence.

“So what did _you_ want to come see me for anyways?”

“Ah, well.” Rin rubbed the back of his neck. “There were some complications…I ran into one of Nagisa’s sisters this morning and she managed to make me tell her where Nagisa was.”

“Wait what?!” Makoto stopped swimming again and turned around to face Rin. “How did you…how did you manage to run into one of Nagisa’s sisters? And how did she know you knew anything about what happened with Nagisa?”

“We were at the same market and I guess she recognized the coin purse Nagisa gave me. She called me out and I wasn’t going to say anything but she looked really desperate. She said they had been looking for Nagisa nonstop all month and I felt bad, y’know. Especially since I know I’d go to the same lengths to find my sister, and if someone knew anything at all about what may have happened to her, then I would not stop until I found out what they knew. I felt bad for Nagisa though, because I knew that right when I told her everything, she was going to get the entire royal army to go get him probably. I didn’t tell her _exactly_ where Nagisa was, though. I just told her he was on the surface by a castle. But even so, I wanted to see if I could come warn you in case they found you guys, but uh…” he laughed. “Looks everything got all complicated on your end as well.”

Makoto sighed and turned back around and started to swim again. “Tell me about it. Nagisa’s dad is probably the least of our worries right now. Oh!” Makoto swam ahead a bit. “There’s the trench the cave is in! Ha, I can’t believe I actually remembered where it was!”

“ _That’s_ where this cave is?” Rin gave a disapproving look as he took a peek down the trench. “Jeez, this place is scarier than Shipwreck Rock. And _you_ actually went down there with Nagisa?

Makoto grimaced. “It was not a good day…”

Rin looked back up to Makoto. “So, how much farther to this cave?”

Makoto tensed. “Ah, well. It’s not too far down, but I don’t really know how to get inside. You’re supposed to put your hand in one of the holes and say some kind of incantation, but I have no idea what the incantation was.”

Rin sighed. “So what do you expect we do?”

“Well, I guess just wait? I mean, someone’s bound to come out eventually, right?”

“I suppose so. We should find a place to hide, though. We’re kind of right out in the open.”

“Ah, good idea. It’d be bad if Sumi’s accomplice came out here and saw—”

“Shh!” Rin suddenly put his hand over Makoto’s mouth and pulled him down to the ground to hide. “I heard something…”

The two of them took a peeked out just enough to see what was happening with the trench and watched until they spotted someone swimming out of it.

“That’s…that’s Nagisa!” Makoto pushed himself off of the ground and he started to swim out and began to wave his arms around. “Nagis—!”

“Wait!” Rin grabbed his arm to stop him and pulled him back to the ground before Nagisa heard him. “We can’t just rush out like that!”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit odd? Why would Nagisa just be swimming out here alone if he were captured? There might be others, or it might even be a trap. She knows you’re coming for him, doesn’t she?”

“Ah…you’re right. I’m sorry. I was just glad to see that he’s okay.” Makoto looked back out and saw something else swim out of the trench not too long after Nagisa had.

“Is that…an eel?” Rin asked with a slightly confused tone.

“Yeah! It’s one of Sumi’s. There’s usually two of them, though. So maybe we should wait a bit longer in case the second one shows up.”

“Right.”

The two waited, but the other eel never showed up and Nagisa was getting almost too far away to see, so they had to start following him.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Rin whispered. “Why would Nagisa just be out and swimming freely?”

“Well, I’m guessing that eel is making sure he doesn’t swim away, but it’s just an eel, after all. Nagisa should be able to out-swim her easily and get to safety. But, I don’t think Sumi is that stupid. She wouldn’t just let Nagisa go without any sort of reason, and there’s no way she’d let him get away _that_ easily. Not after going through all that trouble to capture him.”

The two made sure to keep their distance far enough away without being noticed by Nagisa or the eel and Makoto eventually realized where exactly they were headed.

“Wait…this is the direction of the castle! Why would he be swimming there?”

 

* * *

 

Nagisa trembled as he swam, feeling very trapped as Sumi’s eel swam right next to him. One false move, one mistake, and she could kill Rei at any given moment; that thought lingered in Nagisa’s mind the entire swim to the castle.

Just a few more minutes and it would be in his view, but he knew he would dread it when the time came. How was he even going to pull this off? He’d been away from home for a month, and there was no way he’d be able to just swim up to the front doors without there being a huge commotion and the guards taking him straight to his father.

Of course, that’s exactly what Sumi wanted…for him to be taken to his father right away so he’d have easier access to his scepter, especially since there’d be no way he’d be able to sneak into the throne room without being seen by someone. Not even with all of the secret passage ways Nagisa knew about. There wasn’t one that lead to the throne room, so the only way in was through the front doors; but Nagisa didn’t want to go in there…he was afraid to be going back home after all this time.

He was afraid of what his father would say and what his punishment would be. What if he couldn’t escape with the scepter and was just locked up immediately and sent away to the Northern Kingdom like his father had originally planned? Would Sumi still kill Rei even if he didn’t succeed in getting the scepter? Nagisa swallowed loudly and tried to keep himself from crying again. He could do this, he had to.

A few more minutes and the castle was finally in Nagisa’s sight. He swam up to it cautiously, expecting to be tackled by guards right away, but to his surprise, there didn’t seem to be any guards around the castle at all. He continued toward the front doors, albeit skeptically, and pushed them open.

He slowly swam inside and finally spotted a few guards lazily floating by the entrance to his father’s throne room; and they looked completely exhausted, almost like they hadn’t slept in days. Nagisa took a deep breath and swam closer to them, since they hadn’t seemed to notice his presence.

“Um…excuse me?” He said quietly once he was right next to them. He patiently waited for a response, but none came, so he took a closer look at them and realized they were actually asleep. He sighed in relief because at least this way he could face his father without guards breathing down his neck. Though it seemed strange that they were asleep on the job, and even stranger at how deserted this place seemed.

He swam past the sleeping guards and to the throne room doors, making sure to open them and go inside before he lost his nerve. He clenched his eyes shut and held his breath as he waited for the sound of his father’s angry voice to erupt through the room, but…it never came. Nagisa waited in silence for a few more seconds before finally opening his eyes to find an empty throne room.

“D-dad?” Nagisa managed to mutter out, but all he got in response was the small echo of his own voice through the vast empty room. He swam around and looked, but could not find a soul, which just added to the list of strange things. “Where…where is everyone?”

“Don’t ask me…” The eel said. “ _I’m_ not the one who lives here.”

“I…but if my dad isn’t here, then neither is the scepter! He always has it with him! What…what do I do?! I don’t know where he is and I can’t get the scepter if I don’t know where he is!” Nagisa started to panic. Sumi never set a time limit for this, but Nagisa just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. If he couldn’t get the scepter soon, there was no telling of what Sumi would do. He sank to the ground and covered his face with his hands. What was he going to do now?

“Calm down, calm down.” The eel swam over and patted Nagisa on the shoulder with her tail. “This is a perfect opportunity for us. It’ll be easier if no one knows you’re here, right? And the old geezer is going to come back eventually, so I say we hide until he returns and then wait for the right moment to snatch the scepter and get out of here before he even realizes it’s gone.”

Nagisa removed his hands from his face and nodded reluctantly. “O-okay.” He didn’t like this situation one bit, but at least they had more of a plan now to make him feel more at ease. He got up from the spot he sank into and glanced across the room. “I actually know a great spot to hide in.” Nagisa led the eel to the left side of the room where there were curtains. “I actually used to hide here all of the time when I would get in trouble.” He gave a small laugh. “It really was a fun—”

“Yeah, I don’t care. Just hide already and shut your mouth before someone sees us.”

“Ah…” Nagisa’s head lowered. “Right…” Nagisa joined the eel behind the curtains and didn’t say another word.

They were hidden there for about a half hour and Nagisa was starting to get anxious and didn’t want to stay put in the same spot any longer, but just before Nagisa attempted to move, they finally heard the doors to the throne room open loudly, so Nagisa had to scramble back into his hiding spot and hope that no one noticed the curtains moving.

“I _knew_ that it was just another dead-end!” came the voice of Nagisa’s middle sister, who sounded on the verge of tears. “Are you sure that stuff the mershark guy told you was even true?!”

“Well, he had Nagisa’s coin purse, so there had to be _some_ truth to what he told me, right?” The eldest sister mumbled out.

“Well, I don’t know, Sis! You said he was Nagisa’s friend, yeah? If he knew where Nagisa was, why would he tell you so easily? He could have just been lying for him so he could throw us off track and even farther from where Nagisa is!”

“Well he sounded genuine to me!”

“Then why didn’t he tell you exactly where Nagisa was instead of giving you a vague description?!”

“Because he wouldn’t tell me any more information! He kept saying that it wouldn’t be fair to Nagisa if he just told us because he had a good reason for swimming away from home in the first place!”

“You had Sousuke with you, didn’t you? Why didn’t you just have Sousuke make him talk?!”

“Please, stop arguing!” yelled the youngest sister. “We’re all just exhausted from trying to find Nagisa, okay? And it’s still a lead, isn’t it? Even if the information might not be entirely accurate, we’ve still gotten farther than we were a week ago…than we were a _day_ ago! We just need to try again tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll find him.” Her voice grew quieter and almost cracked. “We will.”

“I…really want to believe that.” The middle sister uttered half-heartedly. “At least for Father’s sake. But I don’t know how much longer he can continue searching; he needs a break. He’s been searching the most out of all of us ever since he relieved the guards of search duty and sometimes he doesn’t even come home until hours after we do. He’s pushing himself too hard and I’m worried about his health.”

“Well, Nagisa _is_ his son.” said the eldest sister. “He’s our brother, sure, but the possibility of losing a child must be so scaring him so much; so _of course_ he’d be searching harder than us. Especially after how things were going before Nagisa disappeared. That’s something Father regrets and it’s not something you’d want to be the last thing that you ever did or said to your child, you know?”

Nagisa’s eyes widened and he had to catch himself from making a sound. His father…regrets what happened? He’s been worried about him this whole time and he was pushing himself so hard to find him because he was afraid he might lose him? Nagisa put a clenched fist to his chest and had to hold back his tears. Nagisa felt awful; here they were actually worrying about him and exhausting themselves trying to find him; and here he was off on vacation as a human and having a grand time and no worries in the world.

He started to tremble again and was so tempted to just burst out of the curtains right now and then maybe everything would be okay. Then maybe he could somehow explain everything that had happened and what he was being made to do so they could help him out of it…but he knew he couldn’t. If he did that then the eel next to him would just swim off and tell Sumi what happened and then Rei would…Nagisa shook his head; no, he couldn’t let that happen. So he decided to swallow his feelings for now and stayed put.

Nagisa then noticed just how quiet it had gotten, and he wondered if his sisters had left the room, but then the doors slammed open again and he heard the guards say something about helping ‘his majesty’ inside.

“Oh, Dad! You’re back!” The eldest sister said, trying to sound hopeful. “Any luck?”

It was silent for some time before Nagisa heard him swim across the room and heard the sound of metal scraping against metal as the scepter was being put back into its holder. “No.” he answered solemnly. “Although, I think I found the place you mentioned. But there were too many humans around and it was too dangerous to search any further without someone taking notice. We’ll just have to look there again tomorrow when they’ve gone.”

“That’s great news, Father!” The youngest sister said. “I’m sure we’ll find Nagisa in no time!”

“I…hope you’re right.”

Nagisa’s heart fell at how hopeless his father sounded. He couldn’t remember him ever sounding like this except maybe back when his mother died, but that didn’t make Nagisa feel any better at all. In fact, this entire situation made him feel much worse. It’d be so much easier to just steal the scepter from his dad if he was still mad at him and if the only reason he was looking for him so frantically was because he needed to marry him off to Princess Emi as soon as possible since there had been so much time wasted. Instead, they were all worried about him; and from the sounds of it, none of them cared about any of that arranged marriage stuff anymore. They just wanted him back home safe.

“Please,” the King spoke with a tired voice. “If you would leave me. I’d like to just sit here alone for a while.”

“Oh, of course! We’ll be in our rooms if you need us.” The eldest sister chirped, trying to sound as positive as possible, but her solemn tone was still showing through.

The other two sisters sighed sadly as they all left the room and closed the doors behind them. The sound of the door closing echoed through the room loudly, but it quickly fell to silence once again, and thus they were right back to the waiting game.

They were waiting there for yet another half hour, but by now, the eel was getting incredibly impatient and whispered to Nagisa that she was going to sneak outside and cause a diversion so Nagisa could take the chance to steal the scepter. Nagisa nodded and watched as she easily snuck out of the room without being detected. Nagisa barely had time to process how she did it so easily because not even a few minutes later, a guard had come rushing inside to tell the King that there was some sort of a problem. Nagisa snuck a peek out of the curtain and spotted his father swimming outside of the throne room with the guard.

Nagisa gulped and looked over to the scepter still sitting in its stand. In a normal situation, this plan wouldn’t have worked because his dad would have just taken the scepter with him to go see what was wrong, but he just left it sitting there and it must have been because of how tired he was. Nagisa took a deep breath and swam out quickly to snatch the scepter. It was a little harder to get free of the holder than it looked, but he still managed to get it out and hurried out of the throne room doors. He decided that he should go up to his room and sneak out the hidden passage way there so that he wouldn’t run into anyone. He was about halfway to his room when he heard a very deep and very scary-sounding voice call out to him.

“Hey, you there!” Nagisa stopped cold and glanced around to see a huge merwhale shark guard that he could not recall ever seeing around the castle before. “What the hell do you think you’re doing with that?”

“Uh—um…I was just taking this to…get it cleaned! Yeah! To get it cleaned!”

The merwhale shark scoffed. “You really think I’d believe that?”

Nagisa laughed nervously. “Heh, no.” He slowly started to back away. “But it was worth a shot, I guess.” He then gripped the scepter tighter and then started to swim away as fast as he could up to his room.

“O-Oi! You get back here!”

Nagisa tried to hurry up to his room before the guard caught up to him, but as he looked behind him, he could see that the guard was gaining up on him rather quickly. So Nagisa kicked his fin hard to speed up and he started to lose sight of him, but once he turned the corner where his room was, he ran into something and the scepter fell to the ground with a clang.

“Jeez, why don’t you watch where you’re going?! Don’t you know who I…N-Nagisa?”

Nagisa rubbed his head before he looked up at who he ran into and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of his middle sister looming in front of him. “Ah…hi, Sis…”

“Nagisa?! How did you...you just…” she started to cry and punched him in the shoulder before tugging him into a hug. “You _jerk_ , where have you been?! We’ve been so worried about you, oh my god!”

“It’s um…it’s kind of a long story.” Nagisa said rather guiltily.

“We’ve been looking for you all month! Why didn’t you tell us you were here?! Why did you just come up here without saying anything?! Why d—” her eyes looked to the ground where Nagisa had dropped his father’s scepter. “Why do you have that?”

Nagisa wanted nothing more but to keep hugging his sister, he hadn’t realized how much he missed her, but he knew he couldn’t. “Like I said…” he reluctantly wriggled out of his sister’s arms. “It’s kind of a long story.” He bent over to pick up the scepter and then started to slowly back into his room.

“Nagisa, what are you—?”

“I’m sorry, Sis. But I can’t talk right now…” He slammed the door shut and locked it tight, and it wasn’t long before his sister started pounding on the door.

“Nagisa, what the hell?! What are you doing?! Dad’s been worried sick, you know! We all have! Open this door right now!”

Nagisa regretfully ignored his sister’s pleas and hoped that he’d somehow be able to explain all of this later. He rushed over to the trap door and swung it open just as he heard the merwhale shark’s voice from the other side of the door.

“Did you see a young merman swim through this way? He’s stolen the King’s scepter.”

“Yeah! That was my brother, you idiot! He’s in here, help me break the door down!”

Nagisa gasped and hurried into the trap door to escape before they could get inside the room, but in the rush he forgot to close the door behind him. There was no way he could turn around and go back, though, he needed to get as much of a head start as he could. If they stopped him, it would all be over and Nagisa was too afraid of what might happen to Rei if he let himself be caught so easily.

He made it out of the secret passage way and snuck around the corner like he always had while using this way to sneak out of the castle, but it was a little more difficult this time around because he was carrying the scepter with him. The thing was quite big, so it made it really hard to be discreet. Nagisa checked behind him, but thankfully didn’t see anyone yet, so he continued on.

Once he was nearing the other side of the castle, he started to get impatient and then decided to swim a lot faster, so fast that he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings anymore and then rushed out into the open space in front of the castle. He then spotted the eel swimming toward him and she joined him by his side.

“Oh good, you got it. Now let’s get out of here quick!”

“Right!” Nagisa nodded and picked up his pace even more, but he didn’t get very far when he heard someone call out to him.

“Nagisa?”

Nagisa couldn’t help but stop as he recognized his father’s voice. He looked over at him and his eyes were filled with relief and confusion.

“Nagisa! How are you here? You…you’re okay!” He slowly started to swim up closer to him and Nagisa was able to see the tears in his father’s eyes. “We’ve been searching for you for so long and I was so afraid we’d never find you and—what…what are you doing with my scepter?”

A pang of guilt surged within Nagisa and he felt so horrible that his father had to see him like this, and Nagisa didn’t have any time to explain. His hands were shaking and he wanted to cry. “I’m sorry, Dad...” Nagisa turned back around and started to swim away really fast again.

“Wait! Nagisa, wait! Please come back!”

Nagisa glanced behind him and saw that his father was chasing after him and Nagisa’s heart fell. He didn’t want it to be like this, but he had to keep going…he had to make sure Rei stayed safe. Nagisa glanced back again and was surprised to see that his father was gaining up on him, and Nagisa started to panic; what would his dad even do if he caught him? Nagisa didn’t want to think about that and he kicked his tail as hard as he could and sped ahead a bit, but it was a useless effort because his father was able to catch up easily.

The eel groaned in annoyance. “Ugh, this is getting ridiculous.” She then turned around and swam toward the King. Confused, Nagisa slowed down his pace and watched as the eel swam straight at his dad and before Nagisa could process what was happening, the eel suddenly hit his dad in the face and shocked him with her tail.

Nagisa felt himself gasp loudly and he watched as his dad shuddered in pain. “H-hey! What are you…stop! You’re hurting him!” Nagisa turned around and swam at the eel to pull her off of his dad, but it was already too late by the time he got there. “D-dad?” Nagisa put a hand on his shoulder to shake him. “DAD?!” When he didn’t respond, Nagisa started to tremble and looked to the eel angrily. “Why did you do that?!”

“Oh shut up. I’m buying us some time. We need to get away without being followed. It wouldn’t be good if they found out where Mistress Sumi’s hide-out was, would it?”

“But, you—” Nagisa started to cry. “You didn’t have to—!”

“I didn’t kill him, okay? I just knocked him out. Sheesh, I’m not _that_ ruthless. Just come on. It’s been done. Let’s get out of here!” The eel swam ahead and Nagisa released a shaky breath of relief. He then looked back at his unconscious father and regretfully started swimming again.

 

* * *

 

“Nagisa’s been in there way too long now. Are you sure it was smart to just let Nagisa go inside?” Makoto asked worriedly as he and Rin waited on the outskirts of the castle for Nagisa to come back. “We don’t even know what he’s doing in there. He could be in a lot of trouble!”

Rin sighed. “Relax, Makoto. I’m sure he’s going to be perfectly fi—”

“Wait, I see him!” Makoto shouted, not paying any mind to how loud he was.

Nagisa was swimming in their direction with a scared look on his face, and to Makoto’s utter surprise, was carrying the King’s scepter.

“Nagisa!” Makoto swam out from their hiding spot.

“Oi, Makoto! Wait! We shouldn’t be making ourselves seen—uugh!” Rin grunted in annoyance as Makoto ignored him and swam right up to Nagisa. Rin sighed again and grudgingly followed him to make sure he didn’t get himself hurt.

“Nagisa!” Makoto said again, and Nagisa jumped at the sudden appearance of Makoto right in front of him. “Oh my god, I’m so glad to see you’re safe! What are you even doing with your dad’s scepter? What’s Sumi making you do?!”

“M-Makoto?” Nagisa uttered out with a very small and broken voice. It took him a few moments too process what was happening and then his eyes grew wide in realization. “Makoto! No, get…get out of here!”

“What…are you talking about?”

“If you don’t leave now, then she’ll—”

“Well, well, well…” Came the voice of the eel who had not been too far behind Nagisa. “Look who it is. I was wondering if you would show. Kou said that you gave her a hard time when she was trying to bring Nagisa back to Mistress Sumi.”

Rin lifted his head at the name. Kou? That name was…no. That couldn’t possibly be right. Rin must have heard wrong. So he shook his head and went back to listening to what the eel was saying.

“Well, I can’t say I’m really any match for both a merorca _and_ a mershark.” The eel grumbled. “So this is going to be bothersome.” She then swam around Nagisa and got a little bit closer to Makoto, preparing to attack him. She was staring right into Makoto’s eyes, but then her gaze moved behind him suddenly and she smirked. “Oh good, now I don’t have to deal with you anymore.”

Rin lowered his brows in confusion and then heard Nagisa gasp.

“Makoto! Look out!”

It happened way too fast for Rin to register right away, but suddenly someone had appeared out of nowhere and tackled Makoto from behind and brought him to the sea floor. Once Rin processed what had happened, he didn’t hesitate to swim over and try to get this person off of Makoto. This must have been Sumi’s accomplice that Makoto was talking about.

She was now harshly pushing Makoto’s face into the sand and Rin rushed at her and grabbed her shoulders. “Get off of him!” She then flung herself around and violently pushed Rin’s arms off of her shoulders and tackled him to the ground instead, causing a ton of sand to float up around them. Once the sand finally settled, Rin was able to see her face properly and his eyes rounded in utter shock and he let out an audible gasp; how had he not noticed the hair before? “G…GOU?!”

The girl snarled at him and then brought her fist back far to punch him in the face. “I hate that name! Don’t call me that!”

Rin recovered from the punch and looked back up at her. It _was_ Gou…it _had_ to be; but why did she punch him? Why had she tackled Makoto? Was _she_ really Sumi’s accomplice? How was that possible?!

“Perfect timing, if I do say so myself.” Rin heard the eel laugh. “Come on, Nagisa. We must get going now. Mistress Sumi doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Rin slightly turned his head to the side and saw the eel take her tail and wrap it around one of Nagisa’s wrists to drag him away. They were soon out of site, so Rin turned his head back to Gou, who was still holding him down with a terrifying expression on her face.

“Gou…what are you doing here? Where…” Rin choked back tears. “Where have you been? Why are you doing this?!”

She growled at him. “I told you…” then she pulled back a fist again. “…to stop calling me that!” She pushed her fist forward and Rin prepared himself for the second blow, but her fist was suddenly stopped midway and she was pulled up and away from Rin.

Makoto held her up by her throat. “What does Sumi want with the King’s scepter?! Why did she make Nagisa go get it?!”

She laughed. “You really think I’m gonna tell you? I am Sumi’s loyal assistant and I would never betray her.”

Rin sat up and listened to his sister. This…this wasn’t like her at all. Why was she saying these things and acting so strangely? Since when has she been a loyal assistant to an evil sea witch? Rin watched closely as Makoto’s grip on her tightened.

“My job is to protect Nagisa, and I will do anything to make sure that he stays safe. So you _will_ tell me what Sumi is planning or—”

“Or _what_?!” She spat. “You’ll kill me? Well, that’s exactly what you’ll have to do, then. Because I’m not telling you anything.”

Rin flinched at Makoto’s tone. The change in his eyes was noticeable too, and it was horrifying just looking at them. Makoto always seemed so kind, but then he remembered Nagisa once mentioning that Makoto could become brave and get extremely protective of him when he needed to.

“Well, if that’s what it’s going to come down to, I won’t hesitate.”

Rin’s heart nearly stopped at Makoto’s words and he quickly swam up to him. “Makoto STOP!”

Makoto’s eyes suddenly softened again as his gaze broke from Gou’s and moved over to Rin’s. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t hurt her, please! She’s my sister!”

Makoto lowered her and then started to ramble. “N-no! I wasn’t…don’t worry, I wasn’t _actually_ going to do it! I was just trying to scare her into…wait what?! She’s—she’s your sister?! But how is that possible?!”

“Hell if I know! But this…this is not how she normally is, believe me. There’s something wrong with her.”

Makoto looked to Gou and then looked back to Rin. “Then what do you suggest we do? I can’t just let her go. She’ll just cause a lot of problems for us.”

“Let me handle it. You have to go catch up with Nagisa and stop Sumi from using that scepter for whatever she’s planning to use it for.”

“But Rin—”

“Go! If anyone’s going to pull Gou out of…whatever this is, it’s going to be me.”

“O-okay.” Makoto gulped and took a deep breath. “Good luck.”

“You too.”

Makoto nodded, loosened his grip on Gou’s throat, and then threw her on the ground and swam away as fast as he could before she somehow prevented him of doing so.

As soon as Makoto was gone, Gou immediately started laughing. “Wow, for a second there, I actually believed he was going to kill me. I should have guessed it was a bluff, though. He’s far too weak for that.” She got up from the sand and brushed herself off. “Too bad he got away, though, he was an easy match for me. He may be strong, but that doesn’t help much when your opponent is quick.” She then looked over at Rin and grumbled. “Now I have to deal the likes of you and I have no idea what kind of a fighter you are.”

“I have no intention of fighting my little sister.”

She laughed again. “Why do you keep insisting that? I’m not your little sister. I don’t _have_ any siblings. I was an orphan that Mistress Sumi took in when I was a child. She saved me, so I am completely indebted to her.”

Rin had no doubts now, this was definitely Gou; but why was she lying? Did she not remember who he was? Did she somehow forget her own life? What had Sumi done to her to make her think these things? Well, whatever it was, Rin was going to find out…somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg finally! I'm so sorry for the long wait, this was kind of a difficult chapter to write and I had a bit of writer's block on top of it. I think the next chapter should be a bit easier, so hopefully I'll have that one up a lot sooner. I only have a few more chapters to go, so thank you for being patient with me!


	19. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished the chapter! Thank you so much for your patience! I know it was an awfully long wait ;A;

There was quite the long moment of silence amongst the three boys once Haruka had finished explaining everything. Rei wanted to break the silence and respond, ask more questions because there was still so much that he didn’t understand, but what could he even say? An hour ago he was completely ignorant to the existence of mermaids other than what he read in a few books, and as interesting as Rei found them, he wouldn’t reach as far as to actually believe there was some truth to any of it; maybe as a child he believed in it, but he wasn’t a child anymore, and this entire situation seemed like it came right out of a childhood fairytale. Merpeople, evil sea witches, magic…yeah, it most _definitely_ felt like it was something from a fairytale.

Rei just had so many things swimming in his mind that he couldn’t organize anything, and the anxious stares he was getting from Haru and his brother weren’t helping him at all. Couldn’t they just be patient and give him a few minutes to process all of this? How was his brother even as calm as he was right now? He had mentioned before that he was just as clueless, but it was hard to believe with him not being in the same state as Rei was. Did he seriously not know something about this too? Had he and Haru been keeping this a secret from him this entire time?!

Rei’s heart fell at the thought. Weren’t they supposed to tell him about this kind of stuff? His brother told him everything, and Haru…Haru never lied to him; he always has been the most blunt and honest person that Rei has known, and for him to keep something like this a secret, it didn’t make any sense.

Then there was Nagisa, someone Rei thought he could put his full trust in even after only knowing him for a month, but it seemed like he had been wrong there. Had Nagisa…had _anyone_ even tried to tell him about this?

Did Nagisa’s neglect to tell him any of this mean that everything he and Nagisa had done, all the time they spent together, had it all just been a lie? Had it seriously all been because Nagisa just wanted to become a human? A few tears stung at Rei’s eyes and he shook his head. No, that couldn’t be true. Nagisa wouldn’t just…he would never play with Rei’s feelings like that. Would he?

Rei looked to Haru, took a deep breath, and finally managed to say something. “So you knew about all of this…this entire time?”

“I…well, it wasn’t the _entire_ time,” Haru averted his gaze from Rei. “But yes. I’ve known for a while now.”

Rei gripped at the knees of his pants and felt his own voice tremble once he spoke again. “And during that time you never thought to tell me about any of it?”

Haru quickly brought his gaze back to Rei, and Rei could see the glint of panic in his eye, something that wasn’t very commonly shown in Haru’s usual neutral expression. “I was going to tell you! But I…” Haru looked down shamefully. “I didn’t keep this from you on purpose. I wanted to tell you everything from the moment I first found out. I just…I knew how happy Nagisa made you, and ever since he came here you started acting like your old self again. I hadn’t seen you like that since we were kids and I didn’t want to take that away from you.” Haru hugged his knees and rested his head on them, hiding his eyes even further from Rei. “And it’s not like Nagisa wanted to keep this from you either. I made him promise me he was going to tell you about it, and he was going to tonight. We had a plan and everything.”

Rei’s eyes widened as he remembered looking at Nagisa’s notepad. _‘First thing’s first, I’m…’_ And that’s when he had…er…transformed back. So _that_ must have been what he was going to say! “He was really going to tell me?”

“Of course he was. He really cares about you, Rei! That’s why I didn’t want to say anything to you. I didn’t think it’d be my place; it wouldn’t have been fair to Nagisa.” Haru let out a small breathy laugh. “Figures that I still ended up being the one to tell you about it, though.”

Rei should have known Nagisa wouldn’t have just lied to him intentionally, and here he was actually feeling a little betrayed about not only Haru knowing about this and not saying anything, but also because the entire time Nagisa failed to tell Rei any of it. Although, he can’t say he blamed Nagisa. He is really not the kind of person who would easily believe it if someone came to him and told him they were a merman. Even with proof and having actual merpeople right before his eyes today, he still found it hard to believe.

“I’m sorry, Rei.” Haru said so quietly that Rei could barely hear it. Haru’s face was completely buried in his folded arms now and Rei hated seeing Haru like this.

So Rei scooched over a little closer to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “No need to apologize, Haru. I know you had good intentions and you just wanted me to be happy. You really are a true friend.”

Rei felt Haru go rigid for a moment before he heard a loud sniff and watched as Haru’s eyes slowly peeked out his from behind his arms. Rei was surprised to see that they had tears in them, and before he could say anything, Haru threw his arms around Rei’s shoulders and pulled him into a deep embrace.

“I thought that you’d hate me…”

“Haruka!” Rei gasped, sounding slightly offended. “I could never hate you. You’ve been my best friend since I was seven.”

Rei heard another sniff and this time it didn’t come from Haru. He looked over to his side and saw that his brother was completely in tears.

“You guuuuuyyyysssss!” he wailed. “St-stop! You’re making me all emotional!”

Rei laughed. “Did you want to join in on this hug too?”

“Yee-heh-heh-hesss.” He scooched himself over and wrapped his arms around the other two, and he sniffed again. “Friendship is so beautiful!”

“O-oi!” Haru yelled, though his voice was muffled from being crushed by the two idiots. “Don’t cry all over me, it’s gross!”

The three boys stayed in the hug for a few more minutes until they, to Haru’s relief, finally pulled away and resumed their previous sitting positions.

“So, what do we do now?” Rei’s brother asked after a short moment of silence.

Rei lowered a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you want to help? Who knows what’s happened to Nagisa.”

“Of course I want to help! You know how worried I am for Nagisa! But it’s not like there’s really much we can do. All of the problems are…” Rei gestured toward the ocean. “Down there.”

“There’s gotta be _something_ we can do, though. I feel useless just sitting here.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Well, that was certainly a close one. Good thing Kou came when she did. I wasn’t really in the mood to kill anyone today.”

Nagisa visibly flinched at the eel’s words and nearly stopped himself from swimming, but her tail was still wrapped tightly around his arm and she made sure to keep him moving. She had intended to kill Makoto…so it really _was_ good that Kou came, but was it really? Nagisa didn’t know how much more dangerous Kou was in comparison, so he was definitely worried for Makoto and Rin.

Nagisa looked at the scepter clenched tightly in his hand and his heart fell. He was only doing this so that he could keep Rei safe, but instead it had only put his other friends in danger; even his own father got hurt because of all this, and he didn’t even know if he was all right after what this eel did to him.

More tears stung at Nagisa’s eyes and he didn’t even try to hold them back. He was such an idiot. Everything bad that has happened has been because of him and even when he was trying to fix all of this, things just were not going in his favor, and for what? His dad’s scepter? What was Sumi even going to do after she was done using it for her youth potion? Just give it back and then everything would return to normal? Nagisa would have liked to believe that would be the case, but he wasn’t _that_ naïve. Sumi must know how much more power the scepter held and what she could do with this thing, and he feared exactly what she would do with it once she got it into her clutches. So Nagisa needed to think of something, some kind of plan to get the scepter away from her once she was done with it.

Honestly, the only thing that was stopping Nagisa from using it against her right when they get back was Rei. Rei’s safety was his first priority.

The two finally made it back to the trench where Sumi’s cave was and they swam down into it. Nagisa really needed to think of that plan soon, or otherwise this would not end well.

 

* * *

 

 

“Nagisa!” The King yelled as he jolted up and held out his hand, hoping to coax his son back to him.”

“Dad!” Nagisa’s youngest sister cried as she swam over to hug him. “You’re okay!”

“Wait…where’s Nagisa? He was just there, I…” he looked around and noticed he was inside the castle again. “What happened?”

“We don’t know.” The eldest sister said. “We just found you outside and you were unconscious.”

“Did you really see Nagisa?” The younger sister asked, sounding hopeful.

“Of course he did!” added the middle sister. “I saw him too. He was in the castle earlier and he was stealing Dad’s scepter.”

“But why?” the youngest asked.

“I don’t know. All he did was say he didn’t have time to explain and then he swam away.”

“That’s right…” the King remembered. “Nagisa was with an eel…she’s the one who attacked me.”

The eldest sister put her hand to her face in confusion. “What would Nagisa be doing with an eel?”

The King shook his head. “I’m honestly not sure, but I don’t want to sit here and wait to find out.” He got up and felt a bit woozy from the attack, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. “We need to find out what’s happening. Let’s split up and look for Nagisa.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Come on, Gou! Don’t you remember? We used to sit and listen to Dad’s stories about humans all the time!” Gou grunted and ignored Rin, whipping her tail at his face again, but he dodged it. “You gotta remember, Gou! Remember the human trinkets he used to bring home and how he’d teach us all about them? That was how we were able to support ourselves for so long after Mom died! If it wasn’t for all of that, we wouldn’t have been able to make a living off of selling info about humans!”

“Uuugh, just shut up already, will you?!” Gou screamed as she threw a punch at Rin’s face. This time, Rin wasn’t quick enough and he got thrown back a ways by the force of the punch. 

“Please, Gou…” Rin wiped a bit of blood off of his lip. “Sumi did not take you in. You had a family. Me, Mom, Dad…even Ai! Remember when we caught Ai trying to steal our food when we were kids? I got so angry and chased him down, but _you_ were the one who defended him. He warmed up to you so much faster than he did to me, but then we all became so close, remember? Ai is such a precious friend to me now, and it was all because of you.”

“I…” Gou started; Rin felt hopeful. “I don’t remember any of that crap! Where are you coming up with all of this? I don’t know you! And stop calling me Gou! How do you even know about that name?!”

“Because I’m your brother! I know you, Gou! I know you’ve always worn your hair up with those blue seashells. Mom gave you those when you were five, and you’ve worn them ever since. I know that you have an infatuation for muscles and you once talked to me for hours about some mergirl you met in the market and her amazing triceps.”

“How did…no, you’re wrong! I never told _you_ that…that was Sumi!”

“I know you have a crescent shaped birthmark behind your ear, and how Dad used to tell you about the moon and how he’d take us to see it one day.”

“How did you…no, that was…that was Sumi too…”

“Try to remember, Gou.” Rin was desperate. “You haven’t known Sumi all your life, she kidnapped you only a few months ago. All of the memories that you have left, none of them happened with Sumi. That was me, that was your family. Sumi is not your family, Gou. She’s just using you!”

“You…you’re lying!”

“No, Gou. Sumi is the one who has been lying to you.”

“Just shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She swung her fist at him again, but he was able to dodge this time, probably because he was getting her so riled up, but he still wasn’t sure if this was working; it seemed wearing her down at least. He’d have to keep telling her more memories because this was the only thing he could think of to do.

“Gou, just remember—”

“NO!” Gou suddenly tackled Rin and pushed roughly against a rock. Rin screamed out in pain as his back was being pushed into a sharp edge of the rock. “Stop this right now! Stop screwing with my head! I don’t know you, so just cut the crap already!”

“G-Gou...” Rin coughed out. The more she yelled, the more she pushed him into the rock and he could feel it cutting into his skin.

“Sumi is like a mother to me and how dare you spout out all this nonsense about being my brother! If you were really my brother, then where were you when I was all alone and had no one in the world, huh? Or was that just something Sumi made up too?!” She pushed Rin even more into the rock and gave out a laugh suddenly. “Or is this just a part of your plan? You’re friends with Nagisa and you obviously want to help him out. So maybe this is just you trying to mess with my head as a distraction while Nagisa and that merorca try to attack Sumi, huh?! Well,” She gripped onto Rin’s throat and pulled him away from the rock. Rin let out a breath of relief. “I’m not going to let that happen.”

She then slammed Rin back into the rock and Rin let out another cry of pain. She pulled him back and then slammed him again. Rin couldn’t take the pain anymore. He’d be a goner if she did this again; and just as Rin thought that, she pulled him back a fourth time and Rin clenched his teeth. He really didn’t want to do this. “I’m sorry, Gou…” He then kicked up his tail and hit her forcefully on the side of her stomach and this loosened her grip on his throat. He took the opportunity to slip away from her grasp and then he got behind her to grab her arms and slam her against the rock instead.

Rin flinched when her head erratically slammed against the rock first and he quickly released her and watched her sink slowly into the sand. Shit! He hadn’t meant to hurt her _that_ badly! Worried, he swam over to her, not even caring if this was some trick to get him down next to her. She was still his sister and he didn’t want her to get hurt.

He sat her up and looked at her forehead, which was now bleeding, Rin didn’t know what to do. He looked around for anything he could use to stop the bleeding and he spotted some seaweed and rushed to get some. He tied it around her wound. “Shit, Gou. I’m so sorry…” Rin held her for a few more minutes and she slowly started to open her eyes.

“R-Rin?” A breath caught in Rin’s throat. She…she remembered his name. “I…I had the strangest dream…”

“Gou…is it really you?”

Gou chuckled. “Of course it’s me, you idiot. Who else would I be?” She sat up and reached for her head. “Ow, ow, why does my head hurt?”

“W-what’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was…I was with Ai. We were going to the market to get something for my birthday and…what the?! Why is my head bleeding?! Why are _you_ bleeding? Oh my god, we need medical attention immed—”

Rin suddenly pulled Gou into his arms and sobbed loudly into her ear. “GOU!! It’s really you! I’m so happy, I was so worried about you and it’s been months and—”

“Wait what?? _Months_? I saw you just 10 minutes ago…didn’t I? What…what time is it? Was I unconscious? Did something happen? Why are we both bleeding and what is going on? Why are you crying?!”

Rin sniffed and looked away. “Shut up, I wasn’t crying…” he wiped his eyes with a small pout and got up. “Come on, I tell you about it on the way.”

“Okay?? But shouldn’t I tend to the blood that is coming out of your back right now?!”

“Ah, right. That’s probably a good idea. So you do that, and _then_ I’ll tell you about it.”

Gou quickly got to work and tended to the deep cuts on Rin’s back and wrapped him up with seaweed, since that was about the best she could do right now until they found some medicine or something.

Once she was done with that, Rin thanked her and gave her a big hug. He almost felt like crying again he was so happy. He never thought he’d see his sister again, and now she was here in his arms and back to normal from whatever the hell was going on with her.

“So are you going to explain to me what exactly is going on now?” Gou said with a more serious tone than usual. She sounded a bit frustrated, so Rin pulled away from the hug to look at her.

“Right. Let’s get moving first, we need to find my friend Makoto.”

Gou sighed but nodded and they finally left their spot. Once they had a steady swimming pace, Rin took a deep breath and started to tell Gou everything. About how she and Ai left for the market, but she disappeared and was missing for months. Then he told her all about when he met Nagisa and about all of the stuff he’s been doing this past month. Then he finally got to what Makoto had told him about the party on the ship and how Nagisa turned back into a merman and was taken back to Sumi’s.

“You wouldn’t believe anything I was saying, no matter how many memories I brought up, you were somehow under the impression that half of them didn’t exist, and the other half had been memories with Sumi.”

Gou stopped swimming and looked extremely overwhelmed. “How did I just forget all of this? I don’t remember anything that happened since I was with Ai. I just remember Ai screaming about something, but then I think…I think someone hit me across the head and then that’s it. There’s nothing after that.” She took in a deep breath and was on the urge of sinking to the sea floor and just losing it. “Months…months I was gone and during that time I remember nothing. I missed so much and now…there’s just so much going on and I…” she finally sank down and put her hands on her face, trying to keep calm but she was having trouble breathing at the moment.

“Gou.” Rin sank down with her and took a hold of her arms and looked straight at her face. “I know this is a lot to take in and I’m so sorry I had to dump all of this on you at once, but there’s a lot of stuff happening and time is very precious right now. Let’s just take some deep breaths, okay? Match your breathing with mine.” Gou nodded and the two of them sat there and took multiple slow deep breaths before Gou was finally calmed enough to continue their swim.

“I think Sumi must have used some sort of brainwashing or memory spell on you or something, which could explain all this, but I still don’t know why she would want to do that.”

“Yeah. Why would she want to kidnap me? I don’t even know anything about magic or potions. Unless she just chose me at random, but it’s still a bit confusing to me.”

“Same here. So we’re just going to have to find out what Sumi’s planning.”

The two finally made it to where the trench was and Rin spotted Makoto and called out to him.

“Rin!” Makoto swam over quickly and pulled him into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried you wouldn’t get away from…gwaahh!” Makoto jumped once he spotted Gou and tried to pull Rin behind him. “R-Rin! Kou’s still—”

“Relax, Makoto. She’s on our side now.”

“Huh? H-how?”

“I uh…I accidentally hit her head on the rock and I’m guessing that’s what snapped her out of it. Now she’s back to being my normal sister again.”

Makoto nodded but still looked at Gou skeptically.

“She has no recollection of anything that’s happened the past few months, so please don’t be too hard on her about kidnapping Nagisa and trying to drown your friend, okay?”

“Wait, what?!” Gou squeaked. “I tried to _drown_ someone?! And you failed to mention that I apparently _kidnapped the prince_ when you were telling me everything earlier!”

“Ah…” Rin started to rub the back of his neck. “Sorry, I didn’t want to keep adding to your stress, so I just glazed over that part.”

“Well, I’m fine now. So no need to do that anymore, okay? I’d like to know everything I can about what I’ve done these past few months.” She turned to face Makoto and looked up at him apologetically. “I’m really sorry for almost drowning a friend of yours and for anything else awful that I might have done before.”

Makoto smiled. “Thank you for your apology.” He turned back to Rin. “So how exactly does she not remember anything? And why was she even with Sumi and acting all differently before?”

“Rin thinks that maybe this…Sumi person put some kind of a memory spell on me.”

“But we still don’t understand why.” Rin added. “Why would Sumi kidnap Gou and manipulate her memories? Why does she need the King’s scepter and why did Nagisa need to be the one to get it?”

“Well, I’m not sure about first two,” Makoto put a finger to his mouth in thought. “But Sumi is very sadistic and loves to play games with people. She might have a reason for making Nagisa do this, but it also seems very possible that she’s just doing this to mess with him. Though we can’t know for sure until we find out what she’s planning.”

“And how will we do that?” Gou asked.

Rin thought for a moment, and he needed to think of something quick, they _were_ pressed for time, after all. Sumi’s plan could already be starting, but they needed to stop it somehow, they needed to get into her cave, but it would be dangerous. She had magic, and with the King’s scepter, her magic would be even stronger and it would be reckless to go in there without a plan, because she would definitely not hesitate to try to kill any of them that entered her cave. Then it suddenly dawned on him.

“Gou! She doesn’t know that you’re not under her spell anymore! So if we had _you_ go in there, she wouldn’t suspect anything and then you can find out what she’s planning!”

“Rin, that’s brilliant!” Makoto shouted, but then covered his mouth because his shout was a bit _too_ loud.

“So, all we gotta do is have Gou get into the cave and…ah, shit. Didn’t you say there was some kinda incantation you needed to say to get in?”

“Yeah, but no worries about that anymore. I caught up to Nagisa and was able to follow closely enough behind them without them noticing. I made sure to get close enough so I could hear the incantation this time.”

“Perfect! So just tell Gou what it is and then she can—”

“Hey, slow down a minute, will you?!” Gou interrupted. “This is a good plan and all, but didn’t you say that I acted differently before? You need to tell me exactly how I acted or otherwise she is going to notice and this is not going to go well.”

“Ah, right…” Rin looked to Makoto and they both proceeded to tell her everything she might need to know.

 

* * *

 

 

Gou was now down at the entrance to the cave after having listened to the two bozos try to explain to her how she had acted. She rehearsed with them a few times until she was confident enough to finally get this plan going, but she was still terrified.

She lifted a shaky hand up to the fourth hole down and gulped loudly before muttering the incantation. There was a long pause of silence, and Gou thought that maybe it hadn’t worked, so she moved to try again, but then the cave door suddenly opened and it startled her.

“Okay, Gou, you can do this. This is super important, and you can’t mess this up now.” She whispered before taking a deep breath to compose herself and finally entered the cave. She traveled through a long dark tunnel and even though she couldn’t remember anything, she still felt like she had seen this place before and somehow knew to keep away from the walls.

“Oh, Kou darling! There you are!” Sumi said rather gleefully as Gou finally entered the room. “You took care of the pest problem, I presume?”

Gou looked at Sumi and then took a deep breath before responding. She then gave a sly smirk and a very convincing laugh. “Of course, they won’t be much of a problem anymore, being _dead_ and all.” Gou heard a small gasp come from the other side of the room and saw a merboy with his hands tied up in the corner with a very hurt and defeated look on his face. This must have been Nagisa, and she felt awful about upsetting him, but she needed to stay in character.

“Oh splendid! It’s always much easier once no one is in the way. Ah, but your forehead…” Sumi swam a little closer to take a look at it.

“Oh this? It’s nothing major. This was actually the only hit either of those two idiots could get on me. It didn’t even really hurt that much.”

“Ah, I _should_ mix up a quick healing potion for you though. I need you for this to work, and I want that face to be kept pretty and free of pain.” Sumi then turned away to get some vials from a shelf. “Ah, give me a moment. I’m out of pickled kelp. I must get some from the other room. Lovely, can you please help me look?” She swam to the other side of the room and into a door that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and her eel followed.

Gou waited for a moment to make sure the door was closed before she made her way over to Nagisa, who was now crying. Gou felt bad, but she had to tell Sumi that Rin and Makoto were dead, or this wouldn’t work. “Nagisa…” she whispered, waiting for Nagisa to respond, but he didn’t even look up at her. Gou looked at the door again before she whispered once more. “Rin and Makoto are fine.”

Nagisa’s crying quieted and he finally looked up to her. “W-what?”

“I’m Rin’s sister. Rin told me everything that was going on with you, and this entire time, Sumi has been brainwashing me somehow. But Sumi doesn’t know I’m back to normal, so I’m here to find out what her plan is.”

Nagisa looked so relieved that he started crying again, but he quickly wiped his tears and started to whisper back. “Sumi made a youth potion to make herself young forever, but she needed my father’s scepter because her magic wasn’t strong enough to complete some kind ritual. She also mentioned that she needs you as a sacrifice, so I think you’re in danger.”

Gou’s eyes rounded in shock. So _that_ must have been the reason for Sumi kidnapping her. “Thanks, Nagisa. I’ll…I’ll try to figure something out.”

She started to turn away, but Nagisa spoke up again. “Wait a second.”

“What is it?”

“Um, well…the reason Sumi has been able to make me do whatever she wants and to keep me from acting up is because she has her other eel keeping a close watch on Rei. And if I do anything to go against her, she’ll…”

“I understand, but don’t worry. You’re not the one that’s going against her, right? I’ll be the one to handle all of that.”

Nagisa nodded and then Gou heard the door open, so she turned back to Nagisa and quickly got back into character. “Don’t worry about your little friends, Nagisa. They were both very strong and fought bravely. I was just the better fighter in the end…”

“Oh, Kou. Stop tormenting the poor boy. He _has_ been through a lot today.”

“Ah, my apologies, Mistress Sumi.”

“Now, get over here so I can fix you up.”

“Yes, Mistress Sumi.” She swam over and Sumi rubbed a solution over the wound on her forehead, which healed in only a few minutes.

“Ah, much better!” Sumi smiled and then wiped the residue off of Gou’s face. “Now,” she clapped her hands together. “We can get started.”

She swam over to her vials and took out one with blue liquid and one with a very dark purple liquid. Then she swam back over to Gou and handed her the blue one.

“Please drink this.”

Gou did _not_ trust this at all. “What is it?” She asked as innocently as possible.

“Oh, just a little something that will help me with this ritual. You’re taking a big part in it, and I need your help. Drinking this is very important.”

“Is it safe?” Gou asked, even though she knew it couldn’t possibly be.

Sumi laughed. “Of course it is, dear, why would I ever do anything to hurt you? I took you in, didn’t I?”

Gou gulped, but then laughed as well. “Yes, of course, Mistress Sumi. What was I thinking?” She took the vial from Sumi and looked at it. This potion was very important to the ritual, huh? So if she didn’t drink it, it might not work; but she still needed to pretend, otherwise Sumi would get suspicious. So she took out the cork, put the vial to her lips, and poured it into her mouth. The liquid surprisingly tasted sweet, but she made sure not to actually swallow it.

“Good girl.” Sumi patted her cheek and then turned away to look at the coral bowl sitting in the center of the room. Gou looked around the room to make sure her eel wasn’t paying attention either, and when she saw the eel was preoccupied with Nagisa, she took the opportunity to discreetly spit out the liquid. She then stirred up the water around it so it couldn’t be noticed since it was a rather bright shade of blue.

“Now, just come a little closer, sweetheart…ah there. Perfect! Now just stay in that spot and I shall start the ritual.” Sumi swam back over to her bowl and then started spewing some creepy-sounding incantations that changed the atmosphere and lowered the temperature in the room. Gou immediately got chills, but not in a good way.

After a few more minutes of that, Sumi smashed the vial of purple liquid into the bowl and started making dramatic hand motions to stir it up as she continued her incantations. She then motioned for Gou to come closer, so she did, but regretted it because once Sumi’s fingers touched her skin, it was a very unpleasant feeling.

Finally, Sumi took a hold of the King’s scepter and used it to stir the potion around a few times before both the scepter _and_ the potion started glowing. Sumi smirked evilly and then turned to look at Gou. She started a new incantation and then pointed the scepter at her. As she did so, the potion followed it and then made its way over to Gou. She backed away slightly, but Sumi’s hand clenched tight to her shoulder.

“Don’t be afraid, Kou, this will not hurt one bit.” The potion then started to swirl around Gou’s body and suddenly she couldn’t move. She really hoped that not taking that potion would work, because otherwise, she had no idea what would happen to her.

Sumi then started laughing as some strange glowing light started to come out of the scepter and surrounded her as the potion had. The gold light contrasted the dark purple liquid from the potion, and Gou might have thought it was beautiful if she wasn’t utterly terrified at the moment. She just wanted this to be over, but it was just being drawn out for so long that she couldn’t stand it.

Sumi was getting visibly frustrated at this point and was starting to shake angrily. “Why isn’t it working?! Why aren’t you glowing?!”

If Gou wasn’t completely paralyzed by the spell, then she would be shaking in terror right now at just the look on Sumi’s face and the sound of her voice. She was actually glad she couldn’t remember living with this woman, because she was absolutely horrified of her and what she might do next.

Finally, Sumi got completely fed up and then lowered the scepter angrily, which caused the light and the potion to dissipate into nothing, which was a relief because Gou could finally move again.

“Why didn’t it work?!” Sumi snarled to herself as she looked down at the coral bowl, and Gou slowly started to back away to where Nagisa was so she could untie him while Sumi was busy ranting. “I did everything right. I said the correct incantations in the correct order. I even have the scepter now, so my magic strength shouldn’t be a problem, so…what went wrong?”

“How do you even untie this?” Gou whispered frantically to Nagisa.

“You have to hit the bottom of them.”

“Ah, okay.” Gou moved to the back of Nagisa where the weird plant-ties were, but just as she had, she realized she couldn’t hear Sumi’s voice anymore.

“You.”

Gou looked up and saw Sumi staring at her from across the room, and her expression was fuming. Gou gulped and looked back down at the ties and tried to hurry, but her hands were shaking from fear and suddenly Sumi was right in front of them and she angrily pushed Nagisa out of the way and took a hold of her by her throat with one of her tentacles.

“It was _you_? You didn’t swallow my potion, did you?”

Gou gave a weak laugh. “You should probably pay more attention to that next time.”

Sumi scoffed. “Oh I would, sweetheart, but that was my last vial of youth potion. And now thanks to you, I have no way of making this ritual work!” She squeezed her tentacle a little more tightly around Gou’s throat. “I still don’t know how you managed to break free from my spell, but no matter. I can just put you under it again and this time I’ll make more use of you.” She pulled Gou away from the wall and then dragged her over to the coral bowl again. “Since you messed this up, now you have to fix it by searching for more black jellyfish so I can make more potion.”

She threw Gou down into her chair and then she started laughing. “It’s actually kind of ironic. First your father, then you. Like father, like daughter, I suppose.”

Gou’s eyes widened and her heart nearly stopped. “What did you just say?”

“Oops, looks like I’ve said too much. But since I’m going to change your memory anyways, I guess it won’t matter if I tell you. I _do_ enjoy watching people suffer.” She swam closer to Gou and looked straight at her. “Long story short, we had an ongoing bargain. He’d get me black jellyfish, and I’d turn him into a human for certain amounts of time. He had some stupid job on the surface or whatever, I didn’t really care what he did so long as he brought me what I wanted. But, oh surprise, one day he didn’t have anything for me and wanted to bargain with something else. I wanted you…but of course he didn’t agree to that, so I killed him and signed my contract with his blood.”

Gou sat there in complete shock and she couldn’t believe what she just heard. All this time, _that’s_ what happened to her father? He never came home one day because this witch had killed him? He had died trying to protect his daughter…to protect her? Tears welled up and she didn’t hold back the sobs that came out of her mouth. All this time…it had been because of Sumi that her life had gone to complete shit after her father had allegedly disappeared?

“Yes, just take that all in. But don’t fret, you’ll forget about it very soon.” Sumi smiled slyly and turned around to retrieve the King’s scepter. “The spell will be much stronger and harder to break when I use this.”

“No.” Gou finally spoke out.

“What was that?”

“I said NO!” Gou suddenly leapt up and tackled Sumi. “My father’s death will not be in vain! You’re not going to take me again so easily this time!” She started to dig her nails into Sumi’s face.

“OUCH! Get off of me, you little—STOP!” Sumi struggled as Gou scratched and punched her in the face and used her tail to try and fight off the tentacles that Sumi was using to defend herself. Gou was able to get a few more hits in before Sumi finally got her off and threw her against the wall.

“You are quite the trouble-maker, aren’t you?! That really hurt, you know? How about I show you how that feels, huh?!” Sumi tightened her grip on the scepter, it started to glow, and she aimed it right at Gou’s face. Gou tried to move out of the way, but she was already in so much pain from getting thrown against the wall, so she just closed her eyes and waited for the blast to come, but it never did. Instead, she heard a yell and opened her eyed to see that Nagisa had leapt at her.

He had gotten a hold of the scepter almost immediately and yanked it in a different direction just as the blast went off and shot across the room.

“Aaaahh!” The sudden high-pitched scream startled everyone and they looked over to notice the blast had hit Sumi’s eel who was now lifelessly floating in place.

“MY LOVELY!” Sumi pushed Nagisa away from her and swam quickly over to the eel and held her in her arms. “No, not my lovely. My baby!” Sumi sobbed as held her up to her face.

Before Gou could fathom what had just happened, she felt a hand grab onto hers and she was dragged out of the cave in a flash.

 

* * *

 

 

Sumi cradled her lovely and sang a lullaby even though she knew it wouldn’t be heard. After he song ended, she got up from the floor and placed her on the chair before turning toward the exit of her cave. First the ritual didn’t work, and now this? If she wasn’t angry before, she sure was now. She then gripped the scepter tightly and it started to glow again. “That little _brat_!” She snarled through gritted teeth, “Oh he will pay for this!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo, was that intense or what? I think the next few chapters will be easier for me to write, so hopefully they'll be up a lot faster this time x3


	20. Chapter 19

“Nagisa! S-slow down!” Gou cried as Nagisa pulled her out of the cave and swam ridiculously fast to get out of the trench. They were nearly up and out, but Gou’s back and neck were aching so bad from what Sumi had done to her, that Nagisa’s tugging was making it worse. “Nagisa, please slow down! It hurts to swim this fast! Sumi really did quite a number on me!”

Nagisa didn’t seem to have heard her and just kept swimming until they were completely out of the trench. “Nagisa, please! I’m really hurt and—”

“Gou? Nagis--aahhh!” came Makoto’s voice just as Gou and Nagisa swam right into him and Rin. They all sank to the ground, and even though the collision hurt, Gou was thankful because it made Nagisa finally stop and let go of her arm.

“Ow…” Gou muttered as she rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry about that…”

“No worries…” Makoto grunted painfully from underneath the pile. “I’m just glad you’re out of there and—hey! Nagisa…what are you doing?!”

Taken aback, Gou looked up and saw that Nagisa was already up and quickly swimming away from them.

“Where the hell are you going?!” Rin shouted as he swam after him. “Makoto’s been worried sick about you, y’know! We _both_ have! Where are you…come back here!”

Nagisa slowed down but didn’t stop completely and he spoke with a quiet, shaky voice. “It’s my fault. I…I killed that eel and…and now she’s going to be so angry at me and—and Rei’s in danger for sure! I _need_ to go warn him!” Nagisa picked up his pace again and swam out of sight; not once looking back at them.

Rin slowed down and eventually stopped to let Nagisa go, but he was still confused as hell by the situation. He swam back over to Gou and hoped she had a good explanation.

“Hey, Gou. What was that all about?”

Gou put a finger to her mouth to try to remember; everything had happened so fast that she could barely recall what Nagisa had said to her. “I think he said something about that Rei guy being in danger if he didn’t do what Sumi told him to and…” Gou gasped as she suddenly remembered.

“What is it?” Makoto asked worriedly.

“When Sumi found out I was back to normal she was going to blast me with the scepter, but Nagisa jumped at her to take the scepter away; but the blast accidentally killed one of Sumi’s eel companions!”

Makoto covered his mouth. “That—that’s definitely not good. Those eels just seemed like… _children_ to Sumi. She was always talking with them closely and calling them her ‘lovelies’. If Nagisa accidentally killed one of them then…oh god, Rei’s most definitely in danger! We need to get out of here to go help and warn him or else—”

Makoto suddenly just stopped talking altogether and a look of horror suddenly appeared on his face. Before Gou turned around, she saw a huge shadow pass over them and she was almost afraid to look up to see what it was; she still managed to look anyway, but she wished she hadn’t because the sight was horrifying. Sumi had somehow turned herself into a giantess.

The three of them just floated there in silence as the sea witch passed right over them without noticing or even caring that they were there. She continued on her way up to the surface in the same direction that Nagisa had been going.

“I…how did she…” Makoto stuttered out.

“We never _did_ get the scepter from her…” Gou explained. “Because she was still holding onto it and through the chaos I didn’t even think about it and…oh my god, I didn’t know she could use it for something like _that_. I’m so sorry, I…”

Rin placed his hands on Gou’s shoulders. “It’s not your fault, Gou. You needed to get out of there safe, okay? We just…we need to figure this out.” He turned to Makoto, who was now shaking. “Makoto? Can you…I don’t know, go find the King or something…tell him what’s going on? He might be able to help.”

Makoto nodded and hurried away without another word.

Once Makoto was completely out of sight, Gou and Rin just waited there in silence. Gou was just so unsure of what they were going to do next. What _could_ they do? There was no way they could take on Sumi when she was that huge _and_ had the King’s scepter. They could barely even take her on when she was normal-sized.

“So what are we gonna do now, Rin?”

“Whatever the hell we can. Let’s get going!” Rin started to swim off.

“Wait, Rin!”

Rin stopped and turned around, looking very impatient. “What is it?”

Gou looked at him and thought about what Sumi had said about their father. All those years never knowing the truth and thinking he just up and left them. It tore Rin apart and he hated their dad for it; and even though now was probably not the best time, she _needed_ to tell him…he needed the closure more than she did. Especially if they…didn’t make it out of this.

“I found out something important about Dad…”

 

* * *

 

Nagisa was definitely going to pull something or hurt himself with how fast he was making himself swim, but he didn’t care. Rei needed him and there was no way he was going to let Sumi catch up to him and get to Rei first.

He felt awful about blatantly ignoring Makoto and Rin who were, as Rin said, worried about him, but he knew that they’d all be okay and were out of danger; at least for now. Rei would be the one that Sumi was after first and foremost. So he continued to swim as fast as his fin could carry him and made it to the surface. He’d be at the castle in only a few more minutes.

Gaah, what was Nagisa even thinking?! How could he have so easily just killed a living thing like that? Granted it was a complete accident and he was just trying to protect Kou, but it still felt awful…even if it _was_ the eel that almost killed his father; that fact didn’t really make him feel any better about it at all.

Nagisa was panting and out of breath once he was about half way to the castle, but thankfully he spotted a small row boat in the distance and was motivated to pick up his pace one last time once he got close enough to see that Rei was aboard it. Tears welled up in Nagisa’s eyes and he was so relieved to see Rei was still okay and Sumi hadn’t gotten to him yet.

 

* * *

 

“No, no…” Rei shook his head in response to another of his brother’s ‘brilliant’ ideas. “I don’t think that’ll work either.”

“Well, then what the hell are we going to do?” Rei’s brother pouted.

“I don’t really think there’s much we _can_ do, Brother. There’s just no possible way for us humans to—”

“Shh!” Rei’s brother pushed a few fingers to Rei’s mouth to shut him up.

“Excuse me! I was talk—”

“Rei, SHHHH! Did you hear that?!”

“Hear what?” Haru asked.

“Be quiet and listen!”

The three of them sat there for a moment and listened, and at first all Rei heard was the sound of the gentle waves hitting the side of the boat, but then he finally heard it…

“REI!”

Rei looked out to find the source of the voice and he made a double take when he saw a hint of yellow in the distance. He leaned forward slightly and even squinted a bit to get a better look as the figure grew closer and closer.

“REI!” the voice came again and the figure was now close enough to make out, and Rei’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest when he realized who it was.

“N-NAGISA!!” Rei stood up in his spot and nearly jumped off of the boat to get to him, but Rei’s brother grabbed his arm in time to stop him.

“Slow down there, lover boy. Can’t swim, remember?”

“Ah…right.” Rei reluctantly sat back down but trembled with excitement and relief as he waited for Nagisa to get to him.

“Rei!!” Nagisa panted as he finally was close enough to touch the boat and pull himself up closer. “R-Rei…you’re safe…”

Rei leaned over the boat to meet Nagisa half way, took his face in his hands, and looked straight into his eyes. “Nagisa! How did you…you’re here and…I’m so glad you’re okay! I was so worried and you—” Rei suddenly realized and his heart sped up. “…your voice!” Even though Haru explained that Nagisa gave up his voice in exchange for legs, Rei was still completely stunned. An entire month of knowing Nagisa and him never speaking a word, and there he was…talking. “It’s…oh my god, you…you can talk!”

Nagisa’s face filled with panic. “Please don’t be mad! I can explain…”

Rei smiled and ran his thumb over Nagisa’s cheek in reassurance. “No need, Nagisa. Haru already has, and I don’t care about any of that. I’m just so glad you’re okay!”

Nagisa’s eyes quivered and he sniffed loudly, almost looking close to tears; and all Rei wanted to do was pull him up into his arms and just hold him and tell him his feelings, but Nagisa’s facial expression changed to a serious one soon after.

“Rei, you need to get out of here now. It’s not safe! The sea witch is after you, and…I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault!”

“W-what?”

“There’s no time to explain. She’s angry and on her way and she wants to hurt you! Please, get out of here. Get to shore, get in the castle. She won’t be able to get to you if you’re on land!”

“I…” Rei was at a loss for words. What in the world was going on? “Okay, but what about you? Will she hurt you if she can’t get to me?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not important right now! You need to get to shore _now_!”

Rei frowned at those words. What was Nagisa even saying? “You’re important to _me_. If something were to happen to you…”

“Just go!” Nagisa’s voice cracked and Rei could see the urgency in his eyes as they were starting to tear up. “Please! I’ll figure something out.”

Rei grit his teeth and didn’t want to listen. He wanted to stay by Nagisa’s side and help somehow, but how could he? Even if he _could_ swim, what could he contribute? And if the sea witch was after him, it was most definitely not safe.

“Okay.” Rei finally agreed. “Just _please_ be careful.” He ran his thumbs over Nagisa’s cheeks one last time before he pulled away reluctantly to help his brother row them to shore.

Once there, they pulled their boat onto the sand and Rei looked back out at the water to find Nagisa, but he could barely see him, and that only worried him more. He turned back around to face his brother and Haru and started to follow them up to the castle, but he stopped before they got to the stairs. What was he doing? How could he just run away like this?

“Rei?” Haru called out.

“I have a bad feeling about this. We…there has to be something we can do.”

“I don’t know, Rei.” Haru said. “Makoto told me how dangerous the sea witch can be. I don’t really blame Nagisa for wanting you to get away.”

“But we can’t just sit here and wait! We can’t just run away! What if she hurts Nagisa because she couldn’t get to me! I can’t allow that to happ—”

Suddenly, the ground started to shake and a loud crash of water erupted from behind them and caused them all to jump back. Rei’s jaw dropped when he saw what had breached the water near the spot they had _just_ been mere minutes ago; where _Nagisa_ still was.

“What the hell is that thing?!” Rei’s brother cried out.

“I think…I think it’s her.” Haru started. “The sea witch.”

Rei and his brother slowly turned to Haru with horrified expressions before Rei choked out. “You have _got_ to be kidding me.”

 

* * *

 

Nagisa let out a breath of air when Rei finally agreed to escape to shore before Sumi arrived. He was sure Sumi would somehow magically get there first, but he was relieved that had not been the case. Once Rei was on shore and out of sight, their meeting had finally caught up with Nagisa and he suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. It was the first time Rei had ever heard him speak, and it just _had_ to happen while he was in a panic and sending Rei away. Not to mention he was a merman again, and even though Rei had said he didn’t care about that, Nagisa still couldn’t help but feel insecure right now; because even if Rei said that now while everything was so chaotic, there was nothing stopping him from changing his mind later when he could think more clearly; well, if there even _was_ a later.

He shooed he thought away; he shouldn’t be thinking so negatively. He needed to focus and try to figure out what to do when Sumi got there. He had to find some way to get the scepter away from her and…Nagisa stopped swimming. He narrowed his eyes and noticed there were tons of bubbles rising to the surface of the water right in front of him and he swam a little closer to take a better look since it was so dark, but soon found out that was a huge mistake.

Something huge unexpectedly breached the water and sent Nagisa flying into the air; he landed harshly back into the water a ways away from where he was launched. He groaned in pain and looked to see what it was and he nearly screamed in shock from what he was looking at. Sumi was finally here, but she had somehow grew larger. No, that was an understatement…she was a _literal_ giantess.

Nagisa dared not to move in case she saw him, but she still noticed him anyway and stared down as she towered over him.

She laughed, her voice echoing so loudly through the air that it made Nagisa want to cover his ears. Her voice was also much deeper than usual, and it was chilling to hear. “There you are, dearie! Thought I may have lost you back there!”

Nagisa was frozen in fear. How…how could he defeat her like this? She was larger than maybe three whales put together and even the scepter grew in size! There was no way he could take that from her now! Thank god he sent Rei back to shore. Who knows what Sumi would have done to him with the size she was now.

Sumi took a quick look around and glared back down at Nagisa. “Where’s that Rei of yours, hmm?” She asked with a grin. Nagisa was surprised she still held that expression considering the circumstances; but she _was_ a sadist, after all. “I had a feeling you’d come warn him. Did you send your little lubby wubby back to shore to take shelter? Very clever idea. I wouldn’t have been able to reach him there, right? Not like that will work _now_ , though. I could just waltz over there and destroy the entire castle with this scepter in three seconds flat.”

“NO!” Nagisa finally moved in response to that and nearly jumped too far out of the water. No, she _couldn’t_ do that. So many people were in there, not just Rei. Rei’s brother, Haru, the castle staff, the guests from the party. Nagisa choked back tears and yelled out. “P-please don’t!!”

“Why not? There’s nothing stopping me.” She ran her fingers down the scepter in admiration. “It’d be so easy too, with how powerful this thing is; and I know it’d break you up the most if I did. I need to make you suffer after what you did to my lovely, after all. And what better way to do that than to return the favor?”

Nagisa shook in place, utterly terrified of what she might do and he felt completely helpless. If she decided to blow up the entire castle, there was nothing Nagisa could do about it. All those people, all with lives and families…they’d all be gone in mere seconds.

“But…” Sumi continued, and Nagisa looked up and was naïvely hopeful. “I have a better idea. Why take out the entire castle so fast when I can drag it out? I’d much rather see you suffer slowly. Ha! Imagine the look on your face when I lure Rei out of his little hiding spot and kill him right in front of you? It’ll be the _so_ awful! And entertaining as well!”

Nagisa grit his teeth and balled his fists, not able to contain his anger anymore. “As if, you nasty witch!! You’ll never be able lure Rei out!”

Sumi smirked. “Oh, you really think so?” Her brows lowered together and her grin was soon replaced with a grimace. She then quickly snatched Nagisa up out of the water with one of her tentacles and held him high above her head. “We’ll just see about that then, shall we?” She turned to face the shore. “Oh, Rei darling! Come out, come out! If you don’t show yourself, well…” She squeezed Nagisa until he made a loud groan of pain. “…well let’s just say it won’t be good for your precious Nagisa here.”

 

* * *

 

 “Rei, stop this! What were you thinking?!” Haru said while struggling to keep Rei back.

“I need to go…Nagisa’s in trou….let me GO!”

Both Rei’s brother and Haru had to physically restrain him from running right out into the water again once Sumi snatched Nagisa up and hurt him. He was about knee deep in the water and was still struggling to get away.

“So you can do _what,_ Rei?!” His brother yelled. “Just go out there and drown immediately? Even if you _could_ swim, what do you think you could do? This witch is as huge as our castle, Rei! You’re an ant compared to her!”

“I…”Rei sighed and eased up a bit, allowing the other two to pull him away back onto the shore. “What do I do? I can’t just…I can’t just let Nagisa die out there!”

“But if you go, _you’ll_ die…” Haru argued.

Rei buried his face in his hands and started to cry. He should have told Nagisa. He should have told him how he felt before he left because now Nagisa was...he could _die_ if Rei didn’t do anything and he would die without ever knowing how Rei felt. He had a family out there that he would never get to say goodbye to, other friends too. He had to do something. “I know, I know. God, what can we do? I…I just can’t sit here and do nothing.”

“Rei…” His brother spoke up, a hint of hope in his voice. “I might have an idea. It’s a bit crazy, but, I think it could work!”

Rei looked up to his brother. “I’ll be willing to try anything!”

 

* * *

 

Makoto was in a panic. He had arrived at the palace not too long ago, but no one was there except for a few guards who had no idea where the King and the Princesses had gone. They were rather surprised to see him after having been gone for so long, and they even gave Makoto a spear for protection after he explained the urgency of the situation.

After talking with them, Makoto ended up swimming around aimlessly in no particular direction and had no clue what to do. Where could they have gone? Did they realize the scepter was taken and went out looking for it? Or maybe they were looking for Nagisa; Rin _had_ ended up telling one of Nagisa’s sisters about Nagisa’s whereabouts, so they could have been out searching for him.

So Makoto finally decided to head back to the surface and hoped that maybe they would find their way there as well. He turned around quickly to start swimming in the proper direction when he swam into what felt like a huge wall that stopped him in his tracks instantly. He shook his head to regain his composure and looked up to find a huge merwhale shark right in front of him.

“O-oh! Um, sorry about that! I’m just in a hurry and…” Makoto noticed the sash the merwhale shark was wearing and recognized it as the sash the royal guards at the palace wore. “Oh! Are you a palace guard? My name’s Makoto, I’m the Prince’s personal bodyguard! I don’t have much time to explain, but do you know where the King and the Princesses are? They weren’t at the palace and I need to find them! It’s urgent!”

The merwhale shark looked at Makoto rather suspiciously, but he still answered him. “Makoto, huh? Weren’t you missing as well?”

“Yes! I was accompanying the Prince, but he’s in danger right now and I need to let the King know! We need his help!”

“I was just with the eldest Princess, so I could go back and tell her what’s going on, if you’d like.”

“Really?! Thank you so much!” Makoto was so relieved he had to restrain himself from hugging this complete stranger. He was just glad that this guy even believed a word he said in the first place. “Okay, so when you get there just tell her that the Nagisa is on the surface directly south of the palace!”

“Directly south of the palace. Got it.” Makoto thanked him again and the merwhale shark took off. Makoto then swam off as well and was so relieved he swam into him. He looked back to see if he was gone, and for a second Makoto wondered if he should have gone with him to make sure he found his way. He was just so worried about Nagisa and the others that he wanted to get back as soon as possible and help out any way he could; especially if Sumi was there already.

 

* * *

 

Rin had taken the news of what happened to their father a lot better than Gou had been expecting. If anything, it motivated him more to go out and kick this sea witch’s ass for what she did…Gou was even feeling motivated herself. If they got out of this alive, they could finally go back home and rest and see Ai again; so Gou was definitely going to go all out on this and do whatever it took to defeat Sumi.

They finally breached the surface, slightly out of breath from how fast they had been swimming, and saw Sumi instantly because of her size; Gou suddenly felt significantly less motivated.

“How does she look even _bigger_ on the surface?” Rin nearly whispered, sounding utterly defeated. “What are we gonna do…how are we supposed to attack _that_?”

“I…I’m sure there’s a way!” Gou said trying to sound optimistic even though she felt as hopeless as Rin. “We just need to find her weak spot is all. There’s always a weak spot, right?”

“Yeah…” Rin nodded. “Yeah! That’s all we need to do. Okay, so circle around to the other side of her and—”

“Aaaaarrrgggh!”

Rin jumped at the sudden scream. “Was that…Nagisa?”

“I think so. But…where is he?” Gou and Rin started to look around and it was strange because it sounded kind of close by, but they couldn’t find Nagisa anywhere.

“Aaaaagggh!” Nagisa’s voice came again. “P-please stop! You’re hurting me!”

“How else will I get your precious Rei to come out? If he hears your screams of pain, it won’t be long before he’s right in front of me to ‘save’ you.”

Gou and Rin froze in place before finally looking up at Sumi again and noticing that she had Nagisa clasped tight in one of her tentacles.

“SHE HAS NAG—” Rin started to yell before Gou covered his mouth and pulled him back under water.

“Rin, shhh! If we want to get the advantage on Sumi right now, we can’t let her know we’re here. We have to come up with a plan and sneak up on her, otherwise we won’t stand a chance.”

Rin nodded repeatedly and Gou uncovered his mouth. “So what _is_ the plan? Where do you think her weak spot would be?”

Gou lowered her brows in thought and tried to remember anything Sumi may have said to her while she was living there, anything she might have found out, but nothing was really coming to mind. She couldn’t even remember what she had done a few hours ago, let alone anything from the past three months. For some reason, though, she vaguely remembered something about a spot on her lower back being a bit sensitive because of her old age.

“Well, this could mean nothing, but I’m feeling like her lower back is the spot we should aim for.”

“Lower back, got it!” Rin looked back up at Sumi and gulped. “How are we gonna do this without any weapons?”

Gou opened her mouth and then closed it again. He was right. Even if the lower back _was_ the right place to attack, what were they going to attack _with_? Their fists? Their fists weren’t even as big as one suction cup on Sumi’s tentacle, so there was no way that they’d do any damage at all.

“Maybe I could be of some assistance?”

Gou and Rin turned around and spoke simultaneously. “Makoto!”

“I uh…I got a spear from the palace, so maybe that will help?”

“That’s perfect, Makoto!” Rin said excitedly. “You seriously couldn’t have more perfect timing too. Sumi has a hold of Nagisa and we really need your help with this one.”

Makoto gulped and shivered slightly upon looking at Sumi again; but then he heard Nagisa screaming in pain and lowered his brows in determination. “Well, Nagisa needs me. So I’ll do anything I can to help.”

Rin and Gou smiled and explained the plan to him; the two of them suggested he be the one to hit her weak spot with the spear since he was probably the strongest of the three, and Makoto agreed. He took a tight hold of the spear and readied himself to aim it and throw.

They didn’t know if this was even going to work, and if it did, they didn’t know how _well_ it would work; and they only had the one shot. If it hit her and she felt it, she would know they were there and they wouldn’t stand a chance. Makoto took a deep breath and lifted up the spear, ready to throw it…

Makoto suddenly felt a harsh tug on the spear that kept him from throwing it properly, so once the spear flew out of his hand, it fell short and started to sink.

“Wh—what the hell happened?!” Rin yelled.

“You didn’t really think that would work out well, did you?” The three turned around abruptly and an eel came out of the darkness.

“I thought Nagisa…” Rin started, looking very confused.

“No, that was…there are two of them.” Makoto answered with a whisper.

“You mean there _were_ two of us!” The eel snarled. “I can’t touch Nagisa or else my mistress would be angry, but I’ll settle for you instead.”

“You think you could really take all three of us?” Gou said with an intimidating tone.

 “Oh, I don’t think…I _know_.” She smirked and looked up. “Mistress Sumi!”

Sumi looked away from Nagisa for the moment to look at her beloved eel. “My lovely! Oh, I’m so glad to see you’re safe!” She reached a tentacle down to her to pet her softly. “I’m so sorry but…your sister…she…”

“I know, my mistress. We’re twins, so when she…I felt it. But I’ll do anything to help avenge her!” She looked behind her. “These idiots were trying to kill you.”

Sumi turned around spotted Rin, Makoto, and Gou. “Oh, were they now? I must thank you, my lovely. I didn’t even know they were there. So, revenge huh?” she pointed the scepter at the eel. “I know _exactly_ how you can help.” The scepter started to quiver and glow, and she shot a blinding beam of gold light at the eel. For a few seconds, nothing had happened, but then the eel started to grow larger in size, almost as large as Sumi herself. “Perfect. Now...go sick ‘em, girl.”

The eel turned to the three as they floated there…scared stiff.

“Um…G-Gou?” Makoto stuttered, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, Makoto?”

“Do you maybe have another plan?”

“Yeah…”

“Really? What do we do?” Rin asked, not taking his eyes off of the eel.

“Yeah…” Gou nodded and took a deep breath. “SWIM!” She turned around and started to swim and the other two didn’t hesitate and followed suit.

 

* * *

 

“This is probably one of the worst ideas you have ever come up with,” Rei said as they loaded the last box of explosives onto the ship. “But, it’s the only idea we have right now, so I’ll go with it.”

“What do you mean _worst_ idea? This has _got_ to be one of my best ideas!” Rei’s brother bragged.

“And you really think blowing up one of your parents’ ships is one of your ‘best’ ideas?” Haru asked bluntly. “Wouldn’t this kind of thing ruin the party for the guests and make you lose your bet?”

“As opposed to what? The sea witch blowing up the castle and killing them all?! I’d obviously rather sacrifice a ship and my bet than sacrifice the guests and my brother.”

Both Rei and Haru looked at each other and gave proud smiles. Rei knew his brother would never be so heartless to let a bunch of innocent people get killed, but he still felt proud of his brother; as crazy as this plan was.

They began to open all of the boxes and carefully took out the explosives as fast as they could and started to place them all over the deck below. Rei’s brother was thankfully good at this kind of thing, and was able to rig them all up together in a quick manner before they were finally ready to get the ship back out into the open ocean again.

The three scrambled to get the boat ready to sail, and they surprised themselves with how they managed to get it ready so quickly with only the three of them.

They were finally off, and Rei was both simultaneously relieved and horrified. A shiver went down his spine when he looked over to the sea witch and saw her swinging her tentacle around as Nagisa was struggling to escape it. He really hoped that this would work.

 

* * *

 

“Tick, tock, tick, tock.” Sumi sang as she swung Nagisa around to the beat, making it that much harder for Nagisa to break free. “Hurry, hurry, Prince Rei. Time is tick-tick-ticking away!” She sang out loudly so Rei would hear it. “Only a few more minutes to arrive, or your precious Nagisa will not be alive!”

Nagisa started to feel nauseous from the swinging and it was starting to become extremely difficult to concentrate on coming up with a plan. He was obviously running out of time, and if he didn’t get out of this both he and Rei would be goners; and he had no clue where Makoto, Rin, and Kou swam off to, and he only hoped they could figure out a way to take on that eel of Sumi’s, as impossible as it seemed.

“Oh, well what is this I see?” Sumi sang again. “Are you finally giving yourself up to me?”

Sumi stopped swinging Nagisa around, thankfully, and Nagisa was finally still enough to see one of Rei’s ships sailing closer and closer to them. Only a few more minutes of waiting and Nagisa was able to spot Rei aboard the ship.

 _No._ He couldn’t be giving himself up. Nagisa had to get out of this right now! There was no way Rei would survive this. Sumi would make sure of that. Nagisa struggled against Sumi’s tight grip again and he would not give up until he was free. No matter how hurt he got from it!

“Nice to see you’ve finally made up your mind.” Sumi sneered down at Rei as the ship got closer. “Now, if you would be so kind…to…ugh, this rhyming thing is really getting silly, don’t you think?” Sumi laughed. “I’m just going to stop that now.” Sumi’s tone grew serious again. “Now let me see…I finally have you here. How do I dispose of you?”

“I-I don’t care what you do to me!” Rei yelled up at Sumi. “But please, let Nagisa go!”

“Now why on _earth_ would I do that?” Sumi scoffed.

“Well, this is a bargain, isn’t it? You said you’d let him go if I gave myself up.”

“I never said I’d _let him go_. I just said I wouldn’t _kill_ him if you gave yourself up. Goodness,” she rolled her eyes. “When will you children learn to listen?”

Rei hesitated for a moment and he looked over to Nagisa. Nagisa could see in his eyes just how terrified he was, but he took a deep breath, looked back to Sumi, and spoke again.

“If you let Nagisa go, I’ll let you do anything you want to me.”

Sumi laughed again. “I was going to do that anyways, you stupid boy! Just give it up, you have absolutely nothing to bargain with. You have nothing that I want other than your life.”

“What if I said I _did_ have something to bargain with?”

Sumi’s eyes lit up at the sound of that. “Oh really? Please…enlighten me.”

“I uh…um.” Rei gulped. “I have uh…”

“Me.” Haru interrupted.

“Haru, what are you doing?” Nagisa heard Rei whisper frantically.

“You can have me too!”

“No!” Nagisa screamed.

“Ooh, two for the price of one…” She glanced over to Nagisa to see his horrified face. “Killing _two_ people Nagisa cares about? I _love_ that idea.” She looked back over to Rei. “All right then, you’ve got a deal. I’ll let Nagisa go in exchange for both of your lives.” She looked to Nagisa and whispered. “You can go ahead and swim away as fast as you want when I release you. But I’ll still find you, and I don’t care who I have to go through to do so.”

Nagisa gulped. Sumi loosened her tentacle and was prepared to drop Nagisa right into the water when suddenly a loud noise erupted from the ship and made Sumi shriek and re-tighten her grip on Nagisa before jumping back to get away from whatever the sound was.

A few more seconds had passed until Nagisa finally realized what had happened. The back of the ship had _exploded_ and was now on fire. Nagisa quickly scanned the deck of the ship for Rei and saw him and Haru prying the door open to get below deck as Rei frantically yelled for his brother. They quickly came back out with him and Nagisa cringed at the sight. He was barely conscious, his clothes and hair were partially burnt off, and he had small cuts and burns everywhere. Nagisa was surprised he was conscious at all and, as bad as he looked, it probably could have been a lot worse. Rei and Haru were now trying to tend to his wounds, but Nagisa was very confused.

How did this even happen? Why was there an explosion and why was Rei’s brother below deck? Is that where the explosion came from? Nagisa gasped to himself in realization. Was…was that their plan?! That must have been! No wonder Rei was so persistent in getting Sumi to let him go. No way would Rei ever attack Sumi with explosives with Nagisa right there in harm’s way. Then…why had the explosion gone off with them still on board?

Sumi’s grip on Nagisa tightened as she trembled in anger. “You pitiful… _insignificant_ FOOLS!” Her voice echoed so loudly through the air that it created a wind strong enough to push the ship back and Nagisa felt a horrible ringing in his ears. “How _dare_ you try to trick me like that! And to think, I almost bought your stupid act!”

Nagisa uncovered his ears and unclenched his eyes and looked back over to the ship. Rei and Haru had stopped trying to tend to Rei’s brother’s wounds and only looked up at Sumi, terrified. Rei’s brother was coughing frantically and trying to get Rei’s attention. He was muttering something to him, but Nagisa could not hear it.

“Oh, what was that?!” Sumi suddenly bellowed out. “You need to get off the ship immediately or the fire will cause the _other bombs_ to explode?! Well, we can’t have that happening, now can we?” The three boys looked to her in shock. “Oh yes, I heard you. Now you’d better hurry up and jump off this ship before it explodes, don’t you think?”

Haru and Rei looked to each other in confusion and only slightly hesitated before they both stood to pick up Rei’s brother and they staggered as quickly as they could over the ledge of the ship to get off.

Sumi suddenly pointed the scepter right at the ship to levitate it, the swift jolt knocking the three away from the ledge and back onto the dock. “Too late.” Sumi said almost too sweetly through a very forced smile before flicked the scepter and launched the ship away from her.

“No!” Nagisa gasped as he watched the ship fly into the air and then crash right back down into the water. Nagisa strained his eyes to try to see if they had fallen off the ship while it was airborne, but he couldn’t see anything due to the darkness of the water, and the ship itself was too far away to see anything other than the flames that seemed to only grow bigger and bigger.

Nagisa struggled against Sumi’s grip and yelled out to them…to Rei; this only made Sumi’s grip grow even tighter. The flames had spread and the entire ship had caught fire, but only for a few seconds before it finally blew. The explosion was enormous and pieces of the ship went flying all over the place, some even making it as far as to land in the water right in front of them.

“NO!” Nagisa cried out, lip quivering and eyes watering. “Rei...” he breathed out, barely able to speak. “No…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg thank you once again for your patience! I had really horrible writer's block this time around. But I got it done! Only 1 chapter left (2 if you count the epilogue), so stay tuned! We're almost there!


	21. Chapter 20

 

The flames from the explosion continued and Nagisa could only silently watch as what was left of the ship sank into the depths. His face was wet and red, and he could barely move…barely breathe. It all happened so fast, and he was having a hard time processing everything; there was no way they could have survived that, was there? Nagisa clenched his eyes shut at the realization and lowered his head; it was all hopeless now.

Nagisa shouldn’t have come here at all. This was just so selfish of him and he shouldn’t have dragged Rei or anyone else into this because now they were gone…and it was all his fault. They were gone, and soon he and everyone else around him would be too.

“How disappointing…” Sumi suddenly said, causing Nagisa to lift his head back up. “It would have been better if they were closer and easier to see as they perished…but oh well! I got three down now in one go, so it wasn’t a total waste! Also,” Nagisa felt her shiver and watched as she tightened her grip on the scepter. “How wonderful to see what powerful things this scepter can _really_ do.”

Nagisa felt anger twinge inside of him at every word Sumi spoke, but he just didn’t have the energy to act on it anymore. He was tired…tired and broken, so he said nothing and did nothing to try to escape anymore.

“Oh, what’s this? Have you given up? That’s very uncharacteristic of you, little Prince. I thought you were someone who never gave up.” She held him closer to her face and used her finger to lift his chin to look at his defeated expression. “Have I finally broken you?” Nagisa continued to hold his gaze downward and didn’t look up at her; she smirked. “Good. Everything will be much easier for me now.” She harshly pulled her finger away from Nagisa’s chin and let his head drop back down and Nagisa worried about what Sumi would do next.

 

* * *

 

 

“Rin?! Makoto?! Are you two okay?!” Gou called frantically once she found them.

“Ah…yeah.” Rin groaned, rubbing his head.

Makoto looked around and noticed there was something on fire not too far from them. “What happened?!”

“I don’t really know…” Gou answered. “An explosion? That’s what it looks like.”

“But…but how? What happened to the eel?!” Rin yelled.

“I don’t know that either. I just remember she almost had us and then…” Gou gasped and she and Rin looked at each other at the same time. “You don’t think…”

“That the explosion...” The two of them swam off and started frantically looking around for the eel, leaving Makoto clueless.

“Wait what? What’s going on, you two?!” Makoto swam in a hurry to catch up to them. “Wait, do you think that the eel was killed in the explosion?!”

“YEAH!” Both Rin and Gou shouted back.

“That would have been extremely lucky if…” Makoto stopped, noticing something floating in the water not too far from him. “Hey, guys wait! I found something!” He swam toward it, thinking he’d find the eel…or what was left of her if she _did_ get caught in the explosion; what he found, however, was something he had not expected. “Oh my goodness!!”

“What is it?!” Gou shouted as she and Rin swam over to Makoto.

“It’s Rei’s brother! I think he’s still alive!”

“What?!” Rin picked up his pace to have a look for himself. “But what’s he doing out here?”

“I have no idea, the last I saw him he was in a row boat with Rei and Haru…” Makoto gasped. “Maybe they got caught in the explosion…that must mean Rei and Haru are out here somewhere too! We need to look for them!”

Rin and Gou both nodded agreement. “We’ll look, you need to get this one to shore right now,” Gou said. “He’s in really bad shape.”

“Right!” Makoto threw Rei’s brother onto his shoulder and started swimming towards the shore, only hoping that they found Rei and Haru as well.

It wasn’t long before Rin spotted someone in the water and swam over to him immediately. “Gou! I found someone!”

“Which one?!”

“Ah, I don’t know. I think he has black hair? It’s hard to tell in this lighting.”

“I think that one’s Haru…”

“Uurggh…” Haru groaned.

“Looks like he’s alive too! I’ll bring him to shore, so keep looking for Rei!”

 “I’m on it!”

Rin hurried to shore with Haru on his back and placed him onto the sand once he got there.

“Oh, thank goodness, you found Haru!” Makoto sounded relieved. “What about Rei?”

“Gou’s still looking for him. How’s Rei’s brother?”

“He’s fine, but unconscious. I think he got really hurt from the explosion, though.”

“Yeah, he looks pretty bad. He’ll need to get some medical treatment, but I don’t know how soon that’ll be given the situation.”

“M...Makoto??” came a groan.

“Haru!” Makoto hurried over as Haru sat up. “Are you all right?”

“Rei…where’s Rei?”

“We don’t know yet.” Rin answered. “My sister Gou is still out looking for him.”

“I…I need to help.” Haru moved quickly to stand up but fell right back down and cried out in pain.

“Haru!” Makoto panicked. “What’s wrong?!”

“It’s my leg. I think…I think it’s broken.”

“Then you need to stay put.” Rin said.

“But—” Haru argued as he tried to stand up. “Rei…he needs—”

“I said you need to stay put.” Rin said again more bluntly. “Gou is taking care of it.”

“Rin’s right, Haru. There’s nothing you can do right now. You just need to rest that leg, okay?”

Haru sighed and nodded reluctantly before making sure to settle back down in the sand again.

“So,” Rin broke the silence after a few minutes. “What do we do now?”

“We need to get back out there and help Nagisa.”

Rin laughed dryly. “And how do you suggest we do that? Our last plan didn’t exactly go well.”

“I…” Makoto looked down, feeling hopeless. “I have no idea.”

 

* * *

 

 

Sumi swung Nagisa around aimlessly with her tentacle as she sang about the next step to her plan. “Hmm, what should I do now, little Prince? I have,” she looked down at the scepter in her hands. “Ultimate power here…more than I ever could have imagined; I shouldn’t let that go to waste now, should I?” Nagisa remained silent as Sumi floated across the surface. She looked around a bit more before her gaze fell onto the shore and her eyes narrowed. “Oh, I nearly forgot about the castle.”

Nagisa took in a sharp breath and his heart pounded hard. No way. There was no way she was thinking what Nagisa thought she was thinking.

“It’d be great for testing out my power even more, don’t you think? But hmm…how shall I do it? Blast it to smithereens? Burn it down? No…I need something bigger; something more _devastating_.”

“N-no.” Nagisa trembled, barely able to get his voice out.

“What was that?”

“No!” Nagisa finally screamed. “Why would you care about the castle anymore? Rei…” Nagisa trailed off. The sound of his name suddenly choked Nagisa up and he needed to take a deep breath before he continued. “Rei’s gone. Why do you feel the need to do this?”

She shrugged. “For fun? I’m still getting used to this thing, and I need to practice somehow.”

Nagisa felt sick to his stomach. How could she just want to do this for fun?! “But…what about the reason you originally wanted the scepter? Why aren’t you using it for the youth potion like you wanted?”

“Youth potion? Who cares about a stupid youth potion when you have this much power?! I was a fool to only want this for a youth potion when I can achieve so much more with it.” Her eyes gleamed with realization. “With this scepter, I’m now even more powerful than your father.” She started to laugh. “And it was brought to me by his _own son_! Oh this is just too perfect.” She laughed again for a few minutes, enjoying herself. Then she pointed the scepter at the castle. “Well, I definitely need this practice then if I’m going to take on your father.”

Nagisa struggled against her tentacle again but it was no use, there was no way he was going to be able to stop this from happening. The scepter started to glow as it was getting charged up for the shot and Nagisa couldn’t bear to watch, so he clenched his eyes shut and waited for the sound of the blast to come.

Instead, he heard a blast come from behind him and felt Sumi’s entire body jolt forwards harshly before hearing her scream in pain. Nagisa then noticed that Sumi’s grip around him had loosened up enough for him to escape. Nagisa wasn’t sure what had happened, but he wasn’t going to waste any time and wriggled himself free and dropped into the water.

He hadn’t quite realized how high up he was until he hit the water with a hard smack that could have easily hurt him much more if he had gone in at a slightly different angle. He quickly swam back up to the surface to find out what had actually happened and he was surprised to see his father was there!

“Return my scepter right now, and I will spare your life!” the King yelled up at Sumi.

Sumi laughed. “ _You_ spare _my_ life?! That’s a funny joke, your Majesty. The only reason you got a good hit on me was because you caught me by surprise. You may have powers even without the help of the scepter, but they’re no match for me as I hold this in my hand. So if you’re smart, I would suggest you get out of here right now before this gets ugly. If you just so mindlessly attack me, you’d be putting your precious son in harm’s way!”

Nagisa saw his father tense up and start to lower his arms. “What have you done with him?!”

Sumi smirked. “Not to fret, your Majesty. He safe…for now.” She held up the tentacle that had been previously holding Nagisa and she apparently didn’t even notice that he escaped. “Wait…w-where did he go?!” She then started checking her other tentacles in a panic. “He was…he was _just_ here before you…uugh that _brat_! He must have slipped away from me!”

The King gave a proud smile and Nagisa could have sworn he heard him say _“That’s my boy”_ under his breath. He re-raised his hands at Sumi again and chuckled. “So what were you were saying about my son?”

Sumi suddenly looked furious and pointed the scepter right at the King. “You won’t be laughing for long!” The scepter started to glow again and Nagisa’s heart dropped. No. He wasn’t going to lose anyone else! He kicked his fin and swam as fast as he could to get to his father, pushing him out of the way just mere seconds before the blast would have hit them.

“…N-Nagisa?!”

“Dad, are you okay?!”

“Nagisa! What are you…?” The King shook his head and just wrapped his arms around his son and squeezed tightly. “I’m so happy you’re safe!”

“Dad…” Nagisa felt a few tears well up. It felt like it had been so long since his father hugged him like this. “I-I’m so sor—”

“Oh isn’t this sweet?” Sumi’s mocking voice interrupted. “Father and Son, reunited once again. I had a feeling you wouldn’t have gone far, little Prince. Now you _won’t_ be getting away from me this time!” Sumi then reached a tentacle over to grab him but the King pushed Nagisa behind him and used his magic to make a shield.

“Nagisa, get out of here now!”

“But—”

“Find your sisters and get somewhere safe! I’ll hold her off as long as I can!”

“But…but, _Dad_ —!”

“Don’t argue with me! Go _now_!” He looked back at him with insistent eyes. “Please, Nagisa. I just want you to stay safe.”

Nagisa nodded hesitantly and dived under the water to swim away. He hadn’t gone too far before he stopped abruptly. No…he couldn’t just let his father die. This entire thing was _his_ fault, and he couldn’t let anyone else die because of his mistakes. He had to find out a way to help, but what could he do? If his own father couldn’t beat Sumi, how could Nagisa expect to? He just needed a plan to outsmart Sumi…a way to get the scepter away from her. But he couldn’t do it alone; he needed help.

 

* * *

 

 

“Did you see what just happened over there?!” Rin yelled out in an oddly hopeful panic.

“Yeah, it looked like Sumi got attacked by something!” Makoto shouted back, matching Rin’s tone.

“What do you think it was?” Rei’s brother asked weakly, having only gained consciousness a few minutes prior.

“I’m not really sure.” Rin narrowed his eyes in thought. “What’s out there that could be powerful enough to knock Sumi for a loop like that?”

Makoto suddenly realized and grabbed Rin by the shoulders. “The King! The King has powers even without the help of the scepter! They’re not as strong as they are with it, but it’s still something!”

Rin’s eyes lit up. “That means there’s still some hope!”

“But since they’re not as strong,” Makoto pondered, sounding discouraged. “The King won’t be able do this alone. He needs help.” Makoto looked out at the scene and narrowed his brows. “He needs _my_ help.”

“Are you crazy?!” Rin yelled. “How can you possibly help? You don’t have some secret magic powers I’m just now hearing about, do you?”

Makoto chuckled. “No, but I have combat training. Maybe I could distract Sumi…help wear her down so the King has a better chance. It’s _something_ , at least.”

Rin grit his teeth, not really too fond of the idea, but it was the only one they had right now. “Just don’t die, okay?”

Makoto smiled. “I won’t.” He turned to leave.

“Makoto?”

Makoto turned around with a look of concern. “Haru?”

“Please, be safe.”

“I will.” Makoto promised and he turned away again and took a deep breath to calm his nerves before swimming away.

Not too long after Makoto’s departure, Rin spotted Gou not far off in the distance. “Gou! She’s back!” Rin scurried back into the water to help her, thinking that she must have found Rei, but she was at the shore a lot faster than he anticipated. Rin’s heart sank because he knew why. “You…couldn’t find him, could you?”

Gou shook her head sadly. “No. I looked everywhere but I…I couldn’t find _anything_.” She looked over to Haru and Rei’s brother with quivering eyes. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.” Tears stung at her eyes and Rin pulled her into a hug. As he looked over her shoulder, he had a clear view of Haru and Rei’s brother and watched them both break down into tears.

 

* * *

 

 

Makoto was definitely out of his mind, but he couldn’t just wait around knowing that there was something he could do to help. He just needed to make sure he wasn’t seen or else it might be bad for both him _and_ the King. He was half way to where the fight was happening when he noticed Nagisa in the distance. He almost cried out to him, but figured that was a bad idea given the situation, so he just continued to swim over to him in a now faster pace. He was so happy to see that Nagisa was safe and finally out of Sumi’s clutches.

Nagisa gasped once he finally noticed Makoto swimming toward him. “Makoto!” Nagisa seemed to pick up speed as well and met Makoto with a very tight hug. “I’m so glad to see you! I’m so sorry for rushing out and completely ignoring you before. I was just so worried about…” Nagisa looked away sadly. “…so worried about Rei that I didn’t even bother to say anything to you or Rin.”

“It’s okay, Nagisa. I understand. He was in danger and he needed you.”

“Yeah.” Nagisa still held his gaze away from Makoto’s. “Not like that matters anymore, though. They’re all dead because of me …” Nagisa’s eyes started to water.

Makoto squeezed Nagisa’s shoulders. “But they’re not, Nagisa! They survived the explosion!”

Nagisa whipped his gaze back to Makoto’s. “W…what?! They did?!”

“Yes! Rin and Gou and I were all being chased by that other eel of Sumi’s when the ship came out of nowhere and exploded almost right on top of us! Luckily it got that eel instead. But once things calmed down, we saw them in the water! I got Rei’s brother and Rin got Haru!”

Nagisa’s eyes started watering even more. “I-I’m so glad they’re okay! I thought there was no way they could have…but they did and…” He sobbed. “But…what about Rei?” He asked hopefully.

Makoto’s eyes lowered. “Well, unfortunately Gou’s still out looking for him…”

“Oh…” Nagisa’s expression grew solemn again, but he tried to perk himself up. “Well, I guess there’s still a chance, right? And…and the others are okay! So that’s great news!”

“Yes! So, try not to lose hope, Nagisa.” Makoto smiled at him and gave him another tight squeeze.

“So,” Nagisa broke the silence. “What are you doing all the way out here anyway?”

“I saw that your father came and took a shot at Sumi, but there’s no way his magic alone is powerful enough to stop her when she has the scepter. So I came to help out.”

“Makoto…” Nagisa said worriedly. “Sumi’s way too powerful, you can’t just—”

“I know, but I have to try. I can’t just sit back and watch your father die for us. He needs help.”

Nagisa clenched his fists. “I can’t sit back and watch _you_ die either. There has to be a better way to defeat her; we have to get that scepter away from her somehow! We need a plan, not just reckless improvisation!”

“Well, if you can think of a plan, then please do. But in the meantime, the King needs my help.”

Nagisa reluctantly nodded and hugged Makoto one more time. “I’ll think of a plan, I promise you! Just stay safe, okay?!” Nagisa released Makoto and then hurried back in the direction of the shore. If Nagisa could somehow think of a plan within the next twenty minutes, it would be a miracle.

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa swam as fast as his fin could carry him back to shore, which was easier said than done because it started to rain. Nagisa groaned at the inconvenience and could only hope he could get to shore with enough time to spare to try and come up with a plan. He was able to spot Rin’s red hair through the fog and shouted out to them to get their attention.

“Nagisa! You’re okay!” Rin and Haru said at the same time.

Rin swam out to meet him and pulled him into a hug. “We were so worried about you, you know?!”

Nagisa was out of breath from swimming so fast, but he didn’t hesitate to get to the point right away. “There’s…no way that Makoto and my dad will be able…to hold Sumi off for long! We need to… come up with some kind of plan, and we need to do it fast!”

“Slow down, Nagisa. You need to catch your breath, okay?” Rin scolded as he helped him to the shore.

Nagisa wanted to argue, but he knew there was no use in trying to come up with a plan in this state; so he took a moment to rest, but only a moment! As he sat there, he saw Haru lying back in the sand with Rei’s brother sitting right next to him. He was so relieved to see they were both safe, but then he realized that Kou…or I guess it was _Gou_ now, seemed to be back but there was no sign of Rei anywhere and Nagisa’s heart fell.

“Say, uh…Gou?” He said with a naïvely hopeful tone. “Makoto said you were out looking for Rei. You…didn’t happen to find him, did you?”

Gou looked over at him with a very disheartened expression and she took a second before she answered. “I’m so sorry, Nagisa. I looked everywhere, but…I couldn’t find him.”

It pained Nagisa to hear that, but he should have expected it. When Makoto told him that they hadn’t found Rei right away with the others, he couldn’t bring himself to be too hopeful about it; losing Rei the first time had been hard enough, there’s no way he could handle a second time. Though he still couldn’t stop himself from feeling crushed all over again.

“I k-kind of expected this so…don’t feel bad okay, Gou?”

Gou’s eyes trembled and she swam over to pull him into a hug; Rin joined in not long after to try and comfort Nagisa as well.

“Well, I guess you were right, Haru.” Rei’s brother laughed. “It started to rain, so the party would’ve had to be moved inside.”

Nagisa couldn’t help but smile at that comment and he even heard Haru chuckle softly. He could only imagine that was the intention of bringing it up at a time like this...to lighten the mood; and Nagisa was thankful for it.

“So,” Nagisa sniffed and pulled away from the embrace. “We need a plan to help Makoto and my dad defeat Sumi by getting the scepter away from her. Any ideas?” Everyone looked at each other in silence and then back to Nagisa.

“Nagisa,” Rin started. “She’s _huge_! The scepter also grew in size when she did. How do you expect we get it away from her when we probably can’t even lift it?”

“No, no. We wouldn’t lift it...we’d have to make her drop it!” Nagisa suggested.

“But how do we do that?” Rei’s brother asked. “Apparently the King’s magic isn’t even enough to make her drop it, so what would _we_ be able to do about it?”

Haru put a hand to his mouth in thought. “Maybe if we could distract her somehow…”

“What would even distract her, though?” Gou added. “I doubt just yelling at her would distract her enough for her to drop the scepter. It was hard enough for me and Nagisa to get out of her cave a few hours ago.”

“Yeah, the only reason you two were able to escape from her was because Nagisa accidentally killed one of her _lovelies_ , right?” Rin recalled.

“Yeah, that was…wait…” Gou’s eyes widened. “I think…I think I might have an idea!!”

“What is it?!” Everyone asked, leaning in closer with anticipation.

“I found something really…disturbing while I was out looking for Rei, but it might actually be of some use to us.”

 

After hearing out Gou’s idea, everyone agreed to it even though it sounded ridiculous and might not even work, but it was the only plan they had so they had to give it a shot. Apparently while Gou had been out looking for Rei, she came across more eel remains from the explosion earlier, and had even saw the _head_ floating about in the water. She thought that if the death of that first eel was the only thing to distract Sumi enough for them to escape, then maybe they could use this head against her as well.

They decided to split up before they went back out to the water. Gou and Rin went to get the eel head, and Nagisa went to go tell Makoto and his dad about the plan. Rei’s brother offered to go with him, but Nagisa did not agree because he was still badly injured and Nagisa didn’t want to risk him drowning in case things got too intense.

So Nagisa swam over, only peaking his head above the surface every so often so he couldn’t be seen. It took him longer to get there than he would have liked, but it was better than being spotted by Sumi and captured again.

Once he finally arrived, he found Makoto first, who looked extremely tired already, and he even had a few cuts and bruises on him. When Nagisa was sure it was safe, he swam over to Makoto and tapped on his arm.

Makoto jumped at the touch and turned around quickly. “N-Nagisa?!”

“Shhh! Don’t be too loud, it’ll give us away.” Nagisa scolded.

“S-sorry.” Makoto whispered back. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe!”

“I swam back to shore and met up with the others. We came up with a plan!”

“Really?!” Makoto almost said too loudly, but was able to hold back his voice. “What’s the plan?”

Nagisa bit his lip. “Well…it’s a bit strange, and it might not even work but...” Makoto gestured for Nagisa to continue. “Gou said she found the head to that eel that was chasing you guys earlier, so they went to go get it. You just need to get my dad to lift it with his magic and throw it at Sumi. Hopefully she’ll get freaked out by it and drop the scepter in the confusion.”

“ _That’s_ your plan?!” Makoto almost yelled.

“Makoto, shhhh!” Nagisa scolded again.

“That really _is_ ridiculous. How do you even know she’s going to freak out and drop the scepter?”

“Well, we don’t. But the only reason Gou and I were able to escape her cave earlier was because I tackled Sumi and the blast she had aimed at Gou went in a different direction and hit her eel instead. The death of that eel distracted her enough that we could get out of there so…we thought it might work a second time. Especially since I don’t think she knows the other eel is dead yet.”

“Well it’s a long shot, but it’s the only idea we have right now.” Makoto looked over to the King and saw that he was struggling. “Ah, he needs more help! I’ll draw Sumi’s attention to me for a few minutes so you can go tell him the plan, okay?”

Nagisa nodded and dove back under the water. He waited for Sumi’s focus to be back on Makoto and he swam over to his dad to tell him the plan. The King also thought the plan was ridiculous, but agreed as well. Now the only thing to do was to wait for the eel head, which, fortunately, didn’t take that much longer to get there.

“So, do they know the plan?” Gou asked, while she and Rin struggled to keep the head from floating above the water.

“Yeah!” Nagisa answered. “Let me tell my dad you’re here.” Nagisa swam back up to the surface and was able to whisper to his dad that the eel head was ready for him, but Sumi’s focus was back on the King again and she was already throwing blasts at him. Nagisa had to quickly retreat back under the water because a blast came right in his direction. “Ugh, Sumi’s attacking my dad again! If we gave him the head now, he wouldn’t have time to throw it at her before she blasted him.”

“Yeah,” Gou groaned. “Not to mention the element of surprise would be gone if she saw the head too early.”

“What do we do?! I don’t think my dad can last much longer! And it doesn’t look like Makoto has much energy left either.”

“We’d need a distraction or something.” Rin suggested. “If we could get Sumi’s focus off of your dad for just a few seconds, it could work.”

“Right.” Nagisa nodded. “But who’s going to do the distracting?”

Rin scoffed. “Me, of course. I have a few things I’d like to say to that witch.”

 “Okay,” Gou agreed with a frown. “But you had better be careful. You don’t want me to have to explain to Ai that you died doing something idiotic, do you?”

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” He hugged both Gou and Nagisa before cracking his neck and rushing to the surface where Sumi was sending the King blast after blast. He smirked and took a deep breath. “OI! OCOTPISS!”

Sumi suddenly stopped her attacks and slowly turned around to face Rin. “Excuse me??” She said, sounding slightly offended and slightly amused.

Rin laughed. “I’m actually surprised you responded to that. Get called that a lot?”

“No, it was just _so ridiculous_ that I needed to take a look at the idiot who came up with it.” She sighed. “Honestly, though. If you really wanted to insult me, surely you could come up with something better than _octopiss_.”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who came up with that. My dad made that up when I was a kid...” Rin’s tone suddenly turned serious. “You know, before you murdered him.”

Sumi blinked a few times before realization spread across her face. “Ohh! Well, I knew you looked familiar. You look just like him, after all.” She narrowed her eyes. “Care to share the same fate?”

Rin cocked a brow in confusion and realized too late when one of Sumi’s tentacles came right at him and scooped him out of the water.

“Hey! Let me go!”

“RIN!” Gou gasped and burst out of the water before Nagisa could stop her. “Let go of my brother, you oversized inkwell!”

“Oooh, so both of you are here? Well, lucky me!” She lifted another tentacle. “Always nice to catch two fish on the same hook, don’t you think?”

“Gou! Get the hell of here!” Rin yelled.

“Don’t worry, you’ll all be reunited with your useless father soon enough.”

“Hey, Sumi!” came the King’s voice, causing Sumi to lose interest in Gou and turn around. “Think fast!”

Sumi lowered her brows in confusion just before the King threw the eel head right at her. Sumi gave out a horrified shriek and her arms seemed to move on her own to catch the head before it came too close to her face; but in doing so, she dropped the scepter!

The scepter almost seemed to be falling in slow motion, and Nagisa couldn’t take his eyes off of it even as it fell right above him…nearly about to crash right onto him. He heard his father screaming at him to get out of the way and Nagisa suddenly snapped out of it and jumped out of the way, but not quick enough because it still managed to graze over Nagisa’s cheek and leave a nasty cut from the bridge of his nose and down to his jaw.

Nagisa yelled out in pain at the cut and reached up to his face in hopes to stop the stinging, but he saw that the scepter was sinking and had to dive in after it. It was sinking quite fast because of how heavy it was, and the massive size of it didn’t help any, but Nagisa was able to catch up with it quicker than he thought. When he wrapped his hand around it, it finally reverted back its original size and Nagisa was able to pull it to the surface with ease.

Nagisa noticed Sumi immediately and she was completely distraught…shaking violently and her voice cracking. “My LOVELY! What have you done to her, you MONSTERS!”

Nagisa hurried and took the opportunity to swim over to his dad to give him the scepter. “Dad, I got it!”

“Hand it here!” He called, frantically grabbing the scepter out of Nagisa’s hands once he was close enough. He quickly pointed it right at Sumi, ready to attack. “So what were you saying earlier about killing me?!”

Sumi, still trembling, looked away from the head in her hands and her eyes widened. “How-how did you—?”  She then noticed Nagisa floating there next to the King and her eyes narrowed in anger. “YOU LITTLE BRAT!” She screamed and threw the head down into the water before motioning to reach down and grab Nagisa once again, but the King didn’t hesitate.

“You’re mistaken if you think I’ll just let you hurt my son ever again!” The scepter glowed as it was finally charged up enough and a bright beam of red light shot out of it and hit Sumi right in the chest. She grunted in pain and clutched the spot where it hit.

“You… _bastard_!” She gritted out as she slowly started reverting back to her original size. “Killing me slowly? That’s such a _villainous_ thing to do, don’t you think? Especially for a King? How un-heroic of you. I’m sure the guilt will eat you up while you try to sleep at night.”

The King lowered the scepter and looked her straight in the eye. “I’m sure I’ll get over it knowing that my family and my kingdom are safe from the likes of you.”

Sumi’s eyes narrowed angrily and she growled before finally choking out her final breath and slumping over into the water.

A few seconds passed and there was a sudden lighter feeling to the air…and everyone had collectively sighed in complete relief. It was done; Sumi was finally gone forever.

That calmness didn’t last long when Nagisa suddenly remembered Rin had been captured. “Wait! Where are Gou and Rin?”

“We’re fine!” came Gou’s voice from across the way. She and Rin were with Makoto on the other side of Sumi.

“I was able to get free from her tentacle when your dad threw the head at her.”

Nagisa sighed in relief again and was finally confident he could be completely at ease. “We should go tell Haru and Rei’s brother everything’s okay, then!”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea!” Makoto agreed.

“You three go on ahead.” The King interrupted. “I need to have a word with my son.”

Makoto nodded and gave Nagisa a reassuring smile before he, Rin, and Gou started to swim back to the shore. Nagisa gulped and took a deep breath. He just _knew_ he was going to get the largest scolding of a life time. He slowly turned to face his dad, but couldn’t look him in the eye.

“I’m so sorry, Dad I…” Nagisa looked down. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, Nagisa. _I_ should be the one to apologize.” Nagisa looked up in surprise. “I should have never _ever_ done what I did to you. It was childish, and it was wrong. I was just so angry, that I acted rashly and I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I still did. And for that I am so, _so_ sorry, Nagisa. And you were right…I was, and still am, very bitter about your mother’s death. But that was no excuse for my behavior. I guess, I guess you swimming away was the best thing you could have done, because I don’t think I would have listened to you if you tried reasoning with me. So no, I’m not mad at you, I’m a bit disappointed and mad at the situation, and I was so extremely worried about you, but I’m not mad at _you_. I’m mad at myself for ever driving you away like I did. I hope that one day you could find it in your heart to forgive me.”

“Dad…” Nagisa choked up, letting his eyes water. “Of-of course I forgive you!” He swam over and wrapped his arms around him in a giant, warm hug. “I never knew you cared that much.”

“Of course I do, Nagisa. You’re my son. But I suppose I need to try harder to be a better father.”

“I’ll try harder to be a better son too.” He sniffed, almost regretting what he was about to say. “I know our Kingdom is struggling, so if I still need to go through with that arranged marriage then…I will.”

The King laughed softly. “You don’t have to do that anymore, Nagisa. The King of the Northern Kingdom passed and Queen Kimiko was able to change the law make her daughter Emi the Queen. There is no need for the arranged marriage anymore.”

Nagisa felt so relieved to hear that, because he sure wouldn’t have wanted to do that even though he was offering.

“But even if the arranged marriage was still needed, I wouldn’t make you do it if you really didn’t want to. I don’t want you to be unhappy, Nagisa.”

“But, what about our Kingdom? It’s still not doing well and we need the help!”

“We’d find some other way to fix it. And we will. We’ll just have to work extra hard, okay?”

Nagisa nodded. “Okay. I promise to work hard.”

“We promise to work hard too!” Came the voices of two of Nagisa’s sisters from behind them.

Nagisa gasped and hurried over to them and pulled them both into a bone-crushing hug. “Oh my god, I’m so glad to see you!”

“Ah, Nagisa!” yelled the youngest sister. “You’re crushing us!”

“Oh, oops.” Nagisa let go of them and gave an apologetic smile. “I’m just happy to see you again. And uh,” he looked to the middle sister. “I’m sorry about just completely snubbing you off before. I just didn’t have time to explain.”

“Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll get you back for it later.”

Nagisa laughed and rolled his eyes playfully. “There’s that snarky sister I know. But…” He looked behind them. “Where is—?”

“Oh, she suddenly swam off on our way here for some reason.” said the middle sister, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Yeah,” the youngest sister added. “She said she saw something and didn’t even say anything else before she disappeared.”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll be fine.” said the King. “Though it would probably be best to head home once she comes back.”

“Oh.” Nagisa said sadly. He hadn’t expected they would be leaving so soon.

“Go ahead and get Makoto. And…say goodbye to your uh…human friends, okay?”

Nagisa nodded and turned away to swim back to the shore; he soon heard Makoto’s voice and saw him smiling softly as he and Rin talked with Haru and Rei’s brother. Nagisa smiled as well and hurried to the shore to join.

“Ah, and there he is!” Rin’s loud voice came as he jumped back into the water and swam over to Nagisa to rub his fist over his head. “I was wondering if you were going to survive your dad! He sure looks intimidating.”

Nagisa laughed. “It actually went better than I expected, he wasn’t angry at all. In fact, he even apologized to me.”

“Really?” Makoto asked, utterly surprised. “Wow! I’m so glad! I thought for sure he would ground you for eternity.”

“I did too, haha. But we need to get back soon, so I just came by to say goodbye, I guess.”

“Ah well,” Rin said. “We best get going too.”

“Yeah, Ai _must_ be worried. And he still doesn’t even know I’m okay! It’s gonna be quite the story we’ll have to tell him when we get back.” Gou laughed.

“I’ll come and visit when you get settled back in.” Nagisa promised.

“It’s a deal!” Rin agreed. “But don’t come so early in the damn morning this time, okay?”

“Hehe, I won’t!” Nagisa then pulled both Rin and Gou into one more hug. “Thank you for everything.”

“Hey,” Rin grunted. “Don’t start getting all sappy on me.”

“For real, though.” Gou whispered. “He’ll start bawling right here on the spot if you get any sappier than that.”

“Oi! What can I say? I’m an emotional guy!”

Gou giggled and gave Nagisa a kiss on the cheek before turning away. “See you, Nagisa!” She started to swim off.

“Wait up!” Rin called and turned away as well; he turned back to Nagisa. “Thank you for helping me get my sister back! I owe you big time.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Nagisa called back and waved as Rin finally disappeared into the water.

 It was quiet for a moment and Nagisa finally turned back to the shore to pull himself on the sand to talk to Rei’s brother and Haru. “Sorry about leaving you with this huge mess to clean up.” Nagisa apologized. “My dad just really needs me back home right now.”

“We’ll be fine. I just…I don’t know how we’re going to explain all this to Mom and Dad.” Rei’s brother said solemnly.

Nagisa’s heart fell at the sound of his voice and it made him feel extremely guilty for everything. He could only imagine how hard it was going to be for him to tell his parents that Rei was gone… “I wish I could be the one to tell them what happened. Everything is my fault, after all.”

“Don’t say that.” Haru argued. “There was no way you could have known any of this would happen.”

“Yeah, it was just as much _my_ fault too!” Rei’s brother added. “If we had just had the party inside maybe you wouldn’t have been taken as easily or something!”

“Yeah, but it was still because of _me_ that all of this happened in the first place. If I had just obeyed my father like a good son, I would have never made that stupid deal with Sumi. If I had just…if I had just _stayed home_ then Rei would still be alive!”

“Who said I wasn’t still alive?”

Nagisa suddenly tensed and wasn’t sure if he was hearing things or not. That voice...there was no possible way it was…He then noticed the look of pure relief and joy on Rei’s brother and Haru’s faces as they covered their mouths and let tears run down their cheeks. Nagisa gulped and turned around, barely believing it could be true. He saw his oldest sister swimming towards them while holding a very alive and very conscious Rei above the water.

“R-Rei?” Nagisa managed to stutter out. How was this even possible? Was he dreaming? “Sis, h-how did you…I…” He looked at Rei’s face and Rei smiled at him weakly. Nagisa’s heart turned over and he completely lost it. “Oh my god, REI!” Nagisa frantically pushed himself off of the sand and into the water, barely able to swim because he was shaking so hard and the tears were fogging his vision. He swam rather sloppily over to them and was finally close enough to wrap his arms around Rei in a tight embrace. “Rei oh my god. I…I thought you were…I can’t believe you…” Nagisa started sobbing loudly and felt Rei wrap his own arms around Nagisa tightly.

“Nagisa.” Rei breathed as he buried his face into Nagisa’s hair. Nagisa felt him trembling as well and even felt some tears fall onto his head. Rei took a few shaky breaths and finally pulled away to place his hands on Nagisa’s cheeks.

Nagisa was finally able to really _look_ at Rei, and his heart fell when he noticed Rei’s face was very badly burned. Just when Nagisa was about to ask if he was okay, Rei’s expression suddenly changed to that of concern.

“You’re injured.”

“It’s just a small scratch from when the scepter hit me earlier, it’s nothing to worry about. But what about _you_?! That’s gotta be painful, you should get to the doctor soon!”

“I’ll be fine.” Rei stroked Nagisa’s cheek with his thumb. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

Nagisa leaned into Rei’s hand and brought up his own to give Rei’s a squeeze. He was so overwhelmed…he never thought he’d see Rei again, and yet he was right here in his arms.

After they held each other a little while longer, Nagisa knew he needed to pull away and help get Rei to shore to let Rei’s brother and Haru hug him too; Rei was just as important to them as he was to Nagisa.

“Rei, oh my god.” Rei’s brother cried out, completely bewildered as he and Haru both pulled him into a hug.

“H-how did you even—?” Haru managed to mumble out through his tears.

“I don’t really remember anything, to be honest. Not until Nagisa’s sister here came to my rescue.”

Nagisa looked to his sister in awe. “But how? Gou said she looked everywhere and couldn’t find him.”

“That’s because he somehow drifted way, _way_ out to sea. We were all on our way here and I thought I saw something really strange and swam off to investigate. Good thing I did too, because I found him floating on some kind of drift wood. I was surprised he hadn’t fallen off because he was completely knocked out. I wasn’t really sure what to do, but I kinda felt bad just leaving him there. So I grabbed him to take him to shore and not too long after, he woke up thinking I was you! Then I came to find out he was the exact person you went and got yourself changed into a human for.”

Nagisa’s lip quivered and it didn’t take long for him to pull her into a hug. “Thank you!! Thank you for saving him, Sis!”

“Yeah, yeah.” She smiled. “Easy with the water works. Normally I don’t think I would have saved a human, but I guess there was a part of me that was telling me…that’s what Mom would have done.”

Nagisa’s eyes shined and he hugged her even tighter. He was forever grateful, and he’d definitely show her his gratitude somehow.

“Oh good, she’s here!” Came the voice of the King not too far from them. “Thought I saw her swim over here.”

“Oh…hey, dad!” Nagisa and his sister said at the same time.

“Oh…your Majesty!” Rei’s brother called from the shore and he immediately knelt down in respect, Rei followed suit and Haru bowed his head since he couldn’t kneel. “We must thank you for your help tonight. We are forever in your debt.”

The King waved his hand for them to stop. “Please no need for that. I’m just happy to get my son back.” He looked to Rei and gave him a nod of gratitude. “It’s about time to go now, I’m afraid. Have you said your good-byes?”

Nagisa’s heart fell. He was so happy about Rei, that he almost forgot he had to go back home. “Yeah, but…can I have just a few more minutes?”

“Of course, just make it quick.”

Nagisa turned back to the shore and was almost surprised to see Rei was already sitting on the sand as close to the water as he could. Nagisa’s eyes softened and he made his way over to him. He pushed himself up onto the sand and looked up at Rei sadly. “I guess…this is goodbye.” Rei suddenly pulled Nagisa into his arms again.

Nagisa tried to hold back tears because he really had been crying way too much that day. He squeezed Rei and didn’t want to let go. He _finally_ got him back, and now he had to leave. It just wasn’t fair. But he knew it wouldn’t be forever. There was no way his dad would forbid him from seeing Rei again…at least he hoped so.

“But I’ll come to visit as soon as I can. I promise. My dad just needs me at home right now.”

“I know. And I’ll be waiting for you. I—” Rei paused and took a deep breath. “I-I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, Rei.” Nagisa breathed out. They held each other for a few moments longer when Nagisa hesitantly pulled away to look at Rei’s now tear-stained face; the sight made Nagisa almost lose it and start crying again too, but he didn’t. “Thank you for taking me into your home. I had…the most amazing time with you.”

Rei smiled and sniffed. “And thank _you_ for your company. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. Well,” he chuckled. “If you can count almost getting killed by a sea witch _fun._ ”

Nagisa laughed too and gave Rei’s hands a squeeze. He looked up into his eyes one more time and almost wanted to tell him how much he loved him, but he stopped himself. Now probably wasn’t a good time for that. How much would that suck if Nagisa just confessed only to _leave_ immediately after? He hugged Rei once more and then pulled away to slowly wade back into the water. He smiled and waved at Rei, who returned the gesture. “Goodbye, Rei!”

“Goodbye, Nagisa.”

Nagisa turned away and joined his dad, sisters, and of course, Makoto, who was still waving goodbye. They all dived under the water and were finally on their way back home.

 

* * *

 

 

Nagisa stuck his head through the throne room doors. “Hey, Dad. Makoto and I are going to take Ren and Ran to get a treat!”

“Okay, have fun! Don’t be too long, though. You need to help your sisters hand out food tonight!”

Nagisa gave a half-smile. “I know, I’ll be there!” He slipped out of the room, but forgot to shut the doors behind him.

The King sighed. “Goodness, Nagisa.” He shook his head and swam over to shut the door, but his eldest daughter came swimming in and ran right into him.

“Oops, sorry, Dad! Didn’t expect you to be there!”

“Ah, I was about to close the door. Nagisa forgot to… _again._ ”

She laughed. “Sometimes I think he does it on purpose. Anyway, I thought you might be hungry and brought you a snack.”

“Ooh, thank you! Come join me at the table.” They both sat and ate their coral cakes in silence until the King let out a big sigh.

“What’s wrong, Dad?”

“Nothing, I just…I’m a little worried about Nagisa. It’s been a month now and he still seems…unhappy.”

“Well of course he’s unhappy. He hasn’t gone to seen Rei at all since he’s been back home.”

“Well that’s the weird part, he told me he would ask me if he ever wanted to go visit, but he hasn’t asked me at all.”

“Hmm…maybe he’s afraid you’ll say no.”

“I don’t think that’s it. I told him he didn’t even need to ask me, but he said he wanted to anyway. Yet, he still hasn’t asked and I know he must miss him. I hate seeing him unhappy.”

She put her finger to her mouth in thought. “Maybe it’s because when he goes to visit he’ll have to leave? I imagine that would be kinda hard to do. Only able to see him for, what? A few hours and then have to come back home? He’d have to go visit him every day and we both know that wouldn’t work out well with how busy everything is right now; and who knows how busy it is for them on the surface too. There’d have to be…some _other_ kind of arrangement.”

The King gave his daughter a stern look. “Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”

She gave a knowing smile. “Well _duh_ , Dad! Don’t you think it’d be a good idea? And you have the magic to do it, so why not?”

“I…I don’t know. I’m still a bit…wary of the humans.”

She gave him the dirtiest look she could make. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“What?”

“You _saw_ the way Rei looked at him. Hell, Rei almost _died_ for him! What else does he have to do to prove to you that he’s worthy?!”

He looked down, feeling guilty. “I know…you’re right. It’s just still hard to get over the prejudices I have for them.”

“Well, you’re just gonna have to get over that, because your son is in love with one of them. And you said you hated seeing him be unhappy, right?”

He sighed. “Yes. I did say that. And it’s true! I just made him unhappy for so long that I never want to do that again.”

“Then how about doing this for him? I know it’d make him so happy! And if you’re concerned about missing him, you can always go and visit! He could even come visit us! I’m sure he wouldn’t mind turning back into a merman for a few days to visit. He could even bring Rei with him! Also,” she grinned widely. “Now that I think about it, if Nagisa married him, that’d give us an alliance with the humans! We could even make a pact with them and have them do their fishing elsewhere so our people won’t starve anymore!”

The King blinked a few times in amazement. “I can’t believe I never thought of that…”

“See?! It’s a great idea, so what do we have to lose?!”

“I suppose you’re right, but…”

“Oh my god,” she groaned. “But _what_??”

“It’s sure going to be quiet around here without him.”

Her eyes brightened up and she squealed with delight. “Should I go get Nagisa?!”

“Once he comes home, yes. Please go get him and bring him here.”

“I will!” She got up and started to exit the room.

“I hope you understand this means that Nagisa won’t be here to help you and your sisters tonight.”

She stopped. “Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that!”

“Well, it was _your_ idea.” The King laughed as his daughter groaned and left the room.

 

* * *

 

 

Rei watched as the gentle waves hit the shore over and over and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that evening. He had gone to the beach to watch the ocean every day since he parted ways with Nagisa, and he waited for him until the sun set. He didn’t know why he thought today would be any different, it had been the same for a month now. He’d sit for hours and Nagisa would never come, and he was starting to get worried.

He knew Nagisa promised him he’d visit, but Nagisa’s father, from what Rei understood, was very strict and didn’t like humans much at all. So Rei feared that, because of what happened, he’d bar Nagisa from coming to visit him and that he might never see him again.

Still, he could have just as easily _missed_ Nagisa since he had no idea what time he would come, but he thought Nagisa would at least leave him some kind of a message so he’d know what time they could meet later; but there was never anything. No writing in the sand, no message in a bottle…nothing; and Rei was becoming impatient.

He felt like he was being selfish, and he would obviously wait an eternity for Nagisa if he had to, but he just missed him so much. It was so strange not having Nagisa in the castle anymore. Everything was oddly _quiet_ even though Nagisa was, of course, never loud while he was there, but that was probably because having Nagisa around was always an _adventure_ and there was never a dull moment.

It wasn’t so bad during the first week because everything was still settling down from the incident with Sumi. The guests were all scared and confused, and that took a bit of explaining; especially since many of them watched everything happen from the windows. _Then_ they had to write to their parents and tell them that there was an emergency and they had to come home immediately. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to explain to them what had happened. They weren’t even angry and had actually laughed at his brother for planning the “party from hell”, as his Mother so _graciously_ put it. Then there was the fact that he, his brother, and Haru were all badly injured from the incident and had to spend a lot of time in the infirmary to heal.

Once things had calmed down, however, was when Rei really started to notice Nagisa’s absence. He wasn’t in the room down the hall anymore for Rei to wake up for their morning run, he wasn’t in the library working hard on his writing, and he wasn’t sitting at that spot across from Rei at the dining room table. Rei even went to Nagisa’s old room and tried to wake him up a few times before he realized that Nagisa wasn’t there.

So this was how Rei had been spending the majority of his evenings now. He’d just sit in the sand and wait for hours, losing count of how many times the waves hit the shore. It probably wasn’t good to waste so much time just sitting there waiting, but he didn’t want to give up on Nagisa. He just _couldn’t_. Not after all they’ve been through together; not after how hard Rei had fallen for him.

“Hey,” came the soft sound of Haru’s voice from behind him. “It’s getting late, and you didn’t eat dinner tonight. You should come inside.”

Rei sighed again. “Yeah, I know.” He stood up and brushed the sand off of his pants and turned to face Haru. “You know, you really shouldn’t be climbing down those stairs with crutches. That can’t be very safe.”

Haru frowned. “Well the doctor said I needed to move around a bit. And I hate being cooped up in the castle all day. It’s not fair that you get to come down here every day when I can’t even swim until my leg is fully healed.”

Rei smiled at Haru’s whining; it was so unlike him to complain this much that it was almost funny. If Haru had actually listened to the doctor like he should have been this past month, then his leg might heal faster. The amount of times Rei and his brother had to stop Haru from jumping into the ocean with a cast on his leg was ridiculous.

“Well, no one’s stopping you from just sitting out on the beach and enjoying the weather _without_ having to go swimming.”

Rei almost laughed at the face Haru made in response, but he merely scoffed and made it sound like he was clearing his throat. “Anyways…I suppose I should eat something.”

Haru nodded and the two of them made their way back to the path and up the stairs. They were going at an abnormally slow pace because of Haru’s leg, but Rei didn’t mind. The weather had been cooling down lately and it was nice to spend more time outside. They were just about to the top of the stairs when Rei heard something coming faintly from the direction of the beach. He wasn’t really sure what it was, but it almost sounded like someone was calling his name.

“Did you hear that?” Rei asked Haru as he grabbed onto his shirt to stop him.

“Hear what?”

Rei lowered his brows. “I guess it must have been my imagination.” He frowned and turned back to climbing stairs. He was actually kind of disappointed. He was so sure he had heard somethi—

“Rei!”

Rei stopped in his tracks and Haru turned around instantly. “I definitely heard _that_ one!”

Rei turned around and couldn’t do anything but stare down the stairway. If Haru heard it too, he couldn’t be imagining things, but could it really be... “Nagisa?” Rei almost whispered out, which was useless because there was no way anyone could have heard him.

“REI!!” came the voice again, and Rei almost fell over because there was no mistaking it now.

“Nagisa!” He yelled out as he felt himself start to run down the stairs. Only a few more steps down and Rei finally saw him at the very bottom. He was panting and soaking wet, wearing something similar to that silly outfit he had on when they first met. It was quiet for a moment, and they just stared at each other. “Nagisa…” Rei breathed out again, unable to comprehend what was happening and how this was possible.

Nagisa’s lip trembled slightly and he suddenly started sprinting up the stairs. “Rei!”

Rei let out a breath and started running as well to meet him half way. Once Nagisa was close enough, he practically jumped onto Rei and Rei had to catch him so they both wouldn’t fall over. Once he regained his balance, he ran his palms over Nagisa’s cheeks. He was real. He was real and he was here. “H-how?” Rei stammered. “How are you—you have _legs_ again!”

“My dad.” Nagisa choked out through the tears now staining his face. “He changed me back.”

Rei’s eyes widened. His father actually let Nagisa…? “W-what? How...? For-for how long?”

Nagisa smiled and reached a hand up to Rei’s. “Forever. That is…if you’ll have me.”

Rei gave a breathy laugh. “Of _course_ I’ll have you!” Rei pulled him into an embrace buried his face in Nagisa’s hair. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, Rei.” Nagisa nuzzled his face into Rei’s chest and that made Rei’s heart start to pound really fast.

A month had definitely been too long, because he felt flustered at Nagisa’s affectionate nature all over again; and all those feelings from before started to rush back. They never went away, of course, but they were so much stronger now that Nagisa was in his arms again. Rei’s throat suddenly felt dry and he gulped loudly at the thought of what he was about to do.

“Nagisa?” he asked through a shaky breath.

“Yeah?”

Rei pulled away from the embrace and placed his hands on Nagisa’s cheeks again, rubbing his thumbs softly over them. He looked straight into Nagisa’s eyes and his heart almost melted. He remembered the first time he saw them when Nagisa saved him that night, the first time Nagisa looked up at him when they ran into each other on the beach, and the way they stared at him on the row boat the evening he showed him the lagoon. He smiled fondly at all the memories and brushed Nagisa’s hair behind his ear before leaning forward and pressing their lips together.

Nagisa made a small sound of surprise, but relaxed into the kiss before bringing his hands up to the back of Rei’s neck to deepen it. Rei felt like his heart was going to explode and he pulled away not too long after so he could breathe properly.

 Rei placed his forehead against Nagisa’s. “You have…no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

Nagisa chuckled. “Tell me about it. If only you had done that a month ago.”

“Perhaps. But then Sumi would still be out there doing who knows what and you would have never reconciled with your father.”

“That’s true. So I guess it was all worth it in the long run.” He frowned. “I could have done without the month in between, though.”

“I agree. It was way too long a wait. Although, something good came out of it.”

Nagisa cocked his head to the side. “And what was that?”

Rei brought his hand up to Nagisa’s cheek again. “It gave me time to practice telling you how much I love you.”

Nagisa released a small gasp and a huge blush spread across his face. He proceeded to bury it into Rei’s shoulder to hide his embarrassment. “I love you too, Rei. I love you so much and I’ve been wanting to tell you for so long!”

It was now Rei’s turn to blush, and he, unlike Nagisa, had nowhere to hide his face. Fortunately, Nagisa took his face from Rei’s shoulder and kissed him again. Rei smiled against Nagisa’s lips and buried his hands in Nagisa’s curls.

“Uh…” came a voice from behind them. They pulled apart to see Haru standing there awkwardly. “Not to interrupt but um…dinner. Getting cold.”

“Ah, right. Sorry about that, Haru.” He and Nagisa looked at each other and pulled away, albeit unwillingly. “Would you like to join me for dinner?”

Nagisa brightened up and smiled lovingly at Rei. “I’d love to! I really missed eating with you, Rei.” Haru groaned uncomfortably. “Don’t worry, Haru! I missed you too!” Nagisa ran over and jumped on him to give him a huge hug.

“Th-that’s not the problem!” Haru stuttered out. “Get off of me, you’re heavy.”

“Aww, does that mean you didn’t miss me?” Nagisa pouted.

“I never said that.”

“So you _did_ miss me!”

“Nagisa!”

Rei laughed softly and shook his head fondly at Haru and Nagisa as he followed them up the steps and back to the castle. Rei had never felt more content and he was so looking forward to having Nagisa by his side for the rest of his life.

 

End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is, everyone! I apologize for the 6 month gap between the chapters, but I was finally able to finish it and I wanted to thank all of you for sticking with me until the very end! ;A; (Well, ALMOST end. I'm gonna add an epilogue too, but that will only be a week wait TOPS lol. I promise). This was a lot of fun to write, and I'm both happy and sad for it to be finally done. Thank you again for your support! <33


	22. Epilogue

 

Rei was suddenly awoken by the bed shaking so vigorously that he almost fell out of it.

“Rei, wake up! It’s morning! Today’s the day!”

Rei blearily opened his eyes and could see the blurry outline of Nagisa’s bright, smiling face staring right at him. He rolled onto his side to reach over to the bed side table to grab his glasses. He looked over at the window after putting them on and noticed that it was still very dark outside.

“Nagisa,” Rei yawned. “The sun isn’t even out yet. We don’t need to be ready until after sunrise.”

“Yeah, but we gotta get up and ready! No harm in being at the a little early, is there?”

Rei smiled. “I can’t really argue with that.” He threw the covers off of him and stepped out of bed before noticing Nagisa was already dressed. “You didn’t waste any time did you?”

“I’m just so excited, Rei! It’s been months since I’ve seen everyone, and you get to see it all for the _first time_! I can’t wait to show you everything!”

Rei smiled again as he made his bed and started to get dressed as well. He was excited too, probably not as much as Nagisa, but that’s probably because he couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. Today was the day they were going to visit Nagisa’s family for the first time since Nagisa left them to live with Rei; meaning that Nagisa was going to be turned back into a merman and Rei…Rei was going to be turned into a merman for the first time. He was diving, quite literally, into something completely unknown to him, so _of course_ he’d be nervous.

“We should probably eat something before we go.” Nagisa suggested. “I’m not sure how you’ll like the food we have down there.”

“Well, we’re going to be there for a few days. I’d have to eat whether I like it or not.”

Nagisa giggled. “That’s true. You can always just stick with fish if that’s the case. I hope you will enjoy it, though.”

Rei finished getting ready and the two of them headed to the kitchen where Haru was already leaning against the counter and eating his usual mackerel-on-toast breakfast. He saw them enter and pouted grumpily as they joined him. Haru was still annoyed that he hadn’t been invited to go with them because if anyone would enjoy being turned into a merman and living under the sea for a few days, it would definitely be Haru; but Nagisa promised him he could go the next time they arranged a visit.

They ate their breakfast in silence and were later joined by Rei’s brother, who was loud as usual and excited to see Rei and Nagisa off soon so he could have the castle to himself without having the “two annoying lovers being all lovey dovey 24/7” around.

Rei’s parents asked if they could see them off as well, but Rei didn’t want them to come because he wasn’t ready for them to meet Nagisa’s father when Rei hadn’t even met him for longer than a few minutes; he just wanted to make a proper first impression without his parents there to embarrass him. So he promised them they could come next time when he was more comfortable.

Rei noticed that Nagisa was getting antsy once they were finished with their breakfast, so he figured it was okay to head down to the beach now, even if they had to wait a bit for the king to show up. Nagisa took Rei’s hand and practically dragged him out the door and down the stairs to the beach, but Rei had gotten used to this by now, so it didn’t catch him off guard like it used to. 

The sun had just barely started to peak over the horizon once they stepped onto the sand and sat down to wait close by the shore and watch the sunrise. Rei brushed his thumb softly over Nagisa’s hand as they sat, and eventually Nagisa leaned against Rei’s shoulder and nuzzled into it. This earned a loud groan from Rei’s brother.

Rei turned and gave his brother a look. “Why are you so annoyed with us all the time now? I thought you loved romance?”

“I do! But it gets old after having to see it every single day.”

“Don’t worry about it, Rei.” Nagisa smirked. “He’s just bitter that he’s still single.”

Rei’s brother opened his mouth to retort, but he closed it and crossed his arms in a huff.

Rei chuckled under his breath and went back to stroking Nagisa’s hand. His nervousness started to melt away as they sat there, only to come rushing back once Nagisa jumped to his feet and yelled about seeing his dad in the distance. Nagisa ran, fully clothed, into the water to give his dad a hug.

“It’s so good to see you, Dad!”

“It’s great to see you too, Nagisa! We’ve all missed you so much.”

Nagisa led his dad to the shore and Rei stood up awkwardly and brushed the sand off himself before he stepped forward to greet the king.

“Good morning, your Majesty.” He said with a bow.

“Good morning, Rei.” The king replied, gesturing for him to raise his head.

Rei did so and gulped uncomfortably as the king stared him up and down, giving Rei the feeling he was being judged.

“I’m sorry we haven’t had the chance to meet properly before now,” The king smiled. “But I’m happy that you’ll be joining Nagisa for his visit so we can get better acquainted.”

Rei filled with relief and returned the smile, happy that he had one less thing to worry about. He was still worried about one other thing, however.

“So, shall we get this going?” The king asked.

“Yeah!” Nagisa practically jumped out of the water in excitement. “You ready to go, Rei?”

Rei gulped, not even sure if he would be okay, but nodded anyway. Nagisa picked up on Rei’s expression and assured Rei it would be alright and that he would go first. Nagisa swam a few feet away from his dad and Rei watched while the scepter started to glow. The king pointed it at Nagisa and soon he was covered in a bright gold light and started to change back into his original form. Rei’s eyes sparkled as he watched Nagisa’s legs turn into that lovely pink and yellow fin that Rei had only seen once before, but through the chaos of that night, he hadn’t gotten the chance to really appreciate just how beautiful it was.

Nagisa laughed out and starting splashing about once his transformation was complete. “Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve had this. It’s actually kinda nice! Swimming with legs is a lot more exhausting than swimming with a fin.”

Haru grumbled. “Must be nice…”

Nagisa laughed again. “Next time, Haru. I promise!” Nagisa swam up to the shore and looked up at Rei. “Okay, Rei. It’s your turn now.”

Rei gulped again and took a deep breath before stepping forward into the water, Nagisa not leaving his side the whole time. He stopped once he was about waist deep and figured that was enough and looked over to Nagisa. “What if it doesn’t work because I’m human?”

“It’ll be fine, Rei. He was able to turn me into a human, wasn’t he? Just relax, and I’ll be right here, okay?”

Rei nodded and looked to the King to indicate that he was ready. The king lifted his scepter and it started to glow like before, and he pointed it at Rei once it was all charged up. Rei clenched his eyes shut and felt a sudden warmth envelope him and a light so bright that he could still see it through his closed eyes. He felt an odd tickling at his legs and arms, where he assumed his fins were forming, and his fingers and ears even started to tickle. It was a weird sensation, but definitely not unpleasant, which was relieving because Nagisa’s sudden transformation on the ship that night looked extremely painful.

A few more seconds and he felt the warmth leave him and heard a small gasp come from Nagisa. Rei finally opened his eyes in fear that something went wrong, but was only met with a look of pure amazement on Nagisa’s face.

“Rei...you’re beautiful! I mean, you’ve always been beautiful, but your fin…it’s so pretty!”

Rei looked down at himself and nearly fainted at the initial shock of the fin being there, but he calmed himself so he could have a better look. His eyes widened at the shimmering purple scales that had a hint of red in them when in the right lighting. He then brought his focus to his arms where he had fins similar to Nagisa’s, but a lot more flowy-looking, like a betta fish.

“Woah…” was all Rei could manage to say.

“It really suits you, Rei!” Rei’s brother called from the shore.

“It really does!” Nagisa chimed in happily. “Your fin matches your eyes like mine does!”

“Did you do that on purpose?” Rei asked the king.

The king shook his head. “I have no say in how your fin looks, or what kind of fin you’ll get. I just use my magic to change you.”

That meant his fin was this lovely all on its own? Rei’s eyes sparkled and he gave a bright smile before thanking the king for letting him have the opportunity to share this with Nagisa. The next few minutes were then dedicated to Rei trying to figure out how the fin even worked and was able to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but swimming under water would be an entirely different problem.

It was now time for them to go, so they waved goodbye to Haru and Rei’s brother before departing. Nagisa took Rei’s hand in his. “Just dive in and breathe like you normally would. The gills will take care of it. It might be weird at first, but just relax and you’ll be fine. On the count of three?”

Rei nodded and clenched onto Nagisa’s hand a little tighter. “One…”

Nagisa returned the pressure on Rei’s hand. “Two…”

“Three!” The two of them dived under together and Rei automatically held his breath and clenched his eyes shut out of habit. But he heard Nagisa’s voice as clear as he would have on land and immediately opened his eyes to look at him.

“Don’t hold your breath. Let it out. You’ll be fine.”

Rei knew Nagisa was right, but still took a second before he slowly let go of his breath and inhaled back in. It felt really weird, almost heavier, like when you go to a higher elevation.

“It might take you a while to get used to, but I’m so excited! There are so many things I want to show you!” Nagisa took his hand again and pulled him deeper into the water as they followed the king. “Just wait until you see our palace!”

Rei smiled softly as Nagisa pulled him along, starting to get excited himself. After they had been swimming a few minutes, Rei opened his mouth in an attempt to say something, and it was a lot easier to speak than Rei had expected. “H-how much longer?”

Nagisa looked back at him with a huge smile. “Not much longer!”

And Nagisa was right, only a few more minutes and the palace finally came into view and Rei’s eyes widened in amazement; it wasn’t as big as his own, but it was far more stunning and Rei couldn’t wait to see inside. As they swam closer, Rei noticed all the different fish and merfolk that swam past, some bowing and waving at them, and greeting the returned prince. Before Rei knew it, they were already at the palace entrance and the guards nodded to them before letting them in.

Once inside, Rei stared in wonder at the beauty of everything and he almost wanted to swim off and explore, but he knew Nagisa would give him a tour when it was time. For now, they met up with Nagisa’s sisters and greeted them. They complimented Rei’s fin and even seemed envious of how pretty it was, which definitely made Rei feel good about himself. Rei also was able to thank the oldest sister for saving him again and he received hugs from all three of them.

After that was done, Nagisa began the grand tour and Rei was in utter amazement. He finally now understood how Nagisa must have felt that first day he saw Rei’s castle and why he wanted to run off every time he saw something interesting, because he wanted to do the same exact thing. Nagisa showed him everything, the throne room, the ball room, even their library, which definitely caught Rei’s interest and he probably spent way too long looking at how merpeople documented everything. He recognized the symbols as the same language Nagisa had written in back when he first tried communicating with Rei, and he wondered how hard it would be to learn; he’d have to ask Nagisa that later.

After spending a good 30 minutes in the library, they were ready to move on to the next place and Nagisa shyly took Rei’s hand. “I want to show you my room now.”

Rei’s eyes lit up again. “Of course!”

Nagisa then led him to a fancy door on the second floor of the palace and opened it to reveal a rather small, but cozy room with a lovely view of the mervillage from Nagisa’s window. It was a lot different from the room Nagisa had back at Rei’s, but it still suited him and Rei could totally imagine Nagisa growing up in this room.

“Unfortunately our beds aren’t nearly as comfortable as yours, so I hope you’ll be able to get some sleep tonight.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to sleep regardless. I’m far too excited to be here.”

Nagisa giggled and continued to give Rei the tour of the rest of the castle before they had to meet everyone in the dining hall for lunch. Rei was happy to see that Makoto had come to join them and he pulled both Rei and Nagisa into a tight hug before they all sat down at the table and were ready to eat.

The food definitely looked weirder than it tasted, and Rei was thankful for that, although there were a few dishes he was probably too scared to try because they looked like they might bite his hand off if he picked any of them up. Dessert, however, looked _and_ tasted delicious, and it was the first time Rei had enjoyed dessert that much because he was never a huge fan of sweets.

After lunch, Nagisa wanted to show Rei the village and Rei was having a weird sense of déjà vu except this time the roles were reversed. Rei agreed and the two of them swam down to the village together where many merfolk happily greeted them and Nagisa introduced Rei to as many of them as he could. They all smiled and bowed kindly, some even shaking Rei’s hand and complimenting his fin as well. Rei started to feel a bit flustered at the attention and eventually Nagisa had to pull him away from a crowd of admirers, and he couldn’t help but laugh to himself at Nagisa’s small pout of jealousy as he muttered to himself about Rei being _his_ boyfriend.

After doing a bit of shopping and a little more greeting of some of Nagisa’s closer merchant friends, Nagisa had one more place he wanted to show Rei before they finally headed back to the palace. Nagisa led him to a large mass of rock with a smaller, strategically placed rock at the bottom that looked like it served as a door.

“It’s definitely not what it used to be, but when I came back home for that month before we saw each other again, I was able to fix it up and start over. Makoto told me at lunch that he’s been trying to keep it up for me too.”

Rei lowered his brows in confusion as Nagisa pushed the smaller rock out of the way and revealed that it was, indeed, a door! Nagisa took Rei’s hand again and led him into this small cave-like room with tons of various human items. Rei’s eyes glinted in realization.

“Your collection!”

Naigsa smiled. “That’s right. I wanted to start it again, even if I won’t really be here that often and I have all the human stuff I could ever ask for back on the surface. I just wanted it to be a kind of…memory of what drove me to be able to meet you.”

Rei’s stomach flipped and he gazed at Nagisa softly before swimming over to him and placing a soft kiss on his lips. “It’s wonderful, Nagisa. Maybe next time we visit, we can bring some items from home to add to it.”

“Really?! I’d like that.” Nagisa nuzzled his face into Rei’s chest and Rei kissed the top of his head. “You know, I never got the chance to tell you this before, but your merman form is very beautiful.”

Nagisa’s head sprung up from Rei’s chest instantly and a bright blush spread across his face. “W-what is this all of a sudden?”

“Well it’s just that night when you turned back, everything was so chaotic that I never got the chance to say anything. But now we’re here alone together, in a place that’s important to you…it seemed like a nice time. Besides, it’s true. Your fin is lovely, and so are you.”

“Reeeiiiii!!” Nagisa buried his face in Rei’s chest again. “Don’t say such embarrassing things.”

Rei laughed. “You’re always so good at complimenting other people, but as soon as someone compliments you, you get so embarrassed.”

“That’s only because it’s _you_ , Rei. As soon as _you_ compliment me, I turn into a blushing mess for some reason.”

Rei laughed again and let Nagisa stay with his face buried in his chest until they were ready to leave.

“So,” Nagisa said as they began their swim back to the palace. “How did you like everything today?”

“Oh, everything was wonderful, Nagisa! I’m very happy that I was able to experience all of this with you. Thank you for showing me your home.”

Nagisa smiled and twirled around happily, his fin flipping gracefully through the water. Nagisa then somersaulted back over to Rei and grabbed his hands again. “I’m so glad, Rei. Showing you this…it was very important to me. And it’s so nice to be able to swim together!”

“It really is.” Rei moved closer and rested his forehead against Nagisa’s. “My whole life I have never been able to swim, but now I get to swim with you…albeit in a non-conventional way, but it’s swimming nonetheless. And it’s even more amazing than I ever could have imagined. So thank you, Nagisa. It means a lot to me too.”

Nagisa’s eyes grew teary and he pulled Rei into a hug. “I love you so much.”

Rei’s heart never failed to swell when Nagisa said those words. “I love you too.”

Nagisa nuzzled Rei’s neck for a few more seconds before pulling away from the hug. “So what do you want to do tomorrow? We can go visit Rin, Gou, and Ai! You’ve never met Ai before, but he’s really nice and I’m sure he’s heard a lot about you already.”

Rei chuckled. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Ooh great!” Nagisa continued to tug Rei along. “Now that I think about it, it’s been so long since I’ve seen them. I have _so_ much to tell them! Oooh, and after that we could—”

Rei smiled as he listened to Nagisa ramble on about the rest of the plans for tomorrow and he sighed contently. He had an amazing day and everything was so incredible. They definitely had to come visit more often.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it. It's officially complete now and it's so hard to believe because I've been working on it for so long. Thank you so much to all my readers out there, you were able to help me keep this thing going and give me motivation to finish it. It was a fun ride and I hope you'll stick around for any other fics I may have in the future. <33


End file.
